Bank of America and the Metro NY Chapter of the USNC for UN Women hosted a film screening of War Redefined on June 19th. War Redefined is the capstone of the award winning PBS film series Women, War and Peace. The film challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, Secretaries of State and seasoned survivors of war and peace-making.

Traditionally, war stories have focused on the men fighting on the front lines, male politicians gathering to broker peace, or former soldiers turning in their weapons. War Redfined spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan, Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security. The film reframes our understanding of modern warfare through probing conversations with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic; Zainab Salbi, Founder of Women for Women International; globalization expert Moisés Naím; and Cynthia Enloe of Clark University, among others. War Redfined coveys that women need to be present at formal peace negotiations and that it is essential for the country’s success. When they are included at the peace table, agreements are more likely to ensure that women have access to land, education and security.

Following the film, Jelena Prosevski, Adjunct Instructor at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University moderated a panel discussion and audience Q&A session. Nina Chaudry, the senior producer of Women, War and Peace and co-producer of the last film in the series, War Redefined spoke about how the documentary series Women, War and Peace came about and the next steps for wider distribution. Ana Lukatela, Program Specialist for the Peace and Security Cluster, U.N. Women explained that she helps women attend meetings in post-conflict areas so they can express their concerns for the community. Petra Totterman, International Co-Ordinator Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom shared insight on applying a gender perspective on security politics.

PBS has made War Redfined and the rest of the Women, War and Peace series available to watch online. To learn more about the panelists that attended last month’s film screening, please click to view the event program.