Muhammad Ali Center Co-Sponsors Its First Community-Wide Public Event
at Baxter Avenue Theaters
In its first community-wide public event, The Muhammad Ali Center and Baxter Avenue Theatres co-sponsored "Promises," an Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature. The showings ran from June 7-13, 2002 and two of them were followed by moderated panel discussions with Carlos Bolado, the film's co-director and editor, as well as child development experts.
"Promises" is about seven children in Jerusalem living 20 minutes apart, but divided by a lifetime of conflict. Through the intervention of the producers, these Israeli and Palestinian children were able to meet, and to share experiences and dialogue. Bolado, who lives in Berkeley, California, was at Baxter Theatres on June 8th and 9th to introduce the documentary, and immediately following the film, he talked about his experience with and observations of the children in the film. He was then joined by a panel of child development specialists who talked about the impact that societal conflict has on children.
Also, on June 9th, eighth grade students from Lassiter Middle School in Louisville-who were joined by their art teacher, Bettye Wise-presented to the Muhammad Ali Center a humanitarian mural entitled "A THREAD OF PEACE AND HOPE", which the students had created for their art class. The 4' x 4'2" mural features sixteen humanitarians who were researched and chosen by the students and includes the faces of Jimmy Carter, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Muhammad Ali, and others.
The message within "Promises" is closely aligned to the Muhammad Ali Center's mission of promoting respect, hope, and understanding-all of which are strong components for acceptance, and eventually peace. And the roadmap to peace begins within our own families and our own communities; oftentimes, it begins with children. It is the hope of the Center that the community and beyond sees this movie, reflects on its message, and becomes more aware of our commonalities as human beings. For more information, go to www.promisesproject.org.