Time For Peace – the humanitarian film and music awards – was held in Paris on Friday, with Sting winning an accolade for best music, and Jimmy Jean-Louis attending.
The Time for Peace Film & Music Awards launched in New York in 1994 by Marion Einbeck and Robert Einbeck, is a response to the need for popularizing films and music recognized for their artistic quality that further the ideals of humanist values such as tolerance, better understanding between people, respect for differences, and human solidarity.
The award has previously been presented to filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg for Schindler’s List and later Amistad, Michael Radford for Il Postino, Scott Hicks for Shine, Caroline Link for Jenseits der Stille (Beyond Silence), Jan Sverak for Kolya, actor Robin Williams for his performance as Sean McGuire in Good Will Hunting, and last year to Edward Zwick for Blood Diamond; in music the award has gone to artists such as Stevie Wonder for Conversation Peace, Jewel for her songs Pieces of You and A Night Without Amor, Charles Trenet for his lifetime achievement, and in 2007 to Charles Aznavour for Colore Ma Vie, to mention only a few.
The intention of Time for Peace is to inspire hope through films and music and to show how heroes who aspire to what is the best in a human life could serve as examples for a large audience.
“It’s one step forward for togetherness,” said Heroes actor Jimmy Jean-Louis. “We live in a world that’s completely divided which is why we need humanitarian events like this in order to inspire others to remain humane. We’re losing touch with ourselves.”
Florian Gallenberger’s German film John Rabe took the prize for best picture and directing. Sting picked up his award for If On A Winter’s Night.
