NEW YORK, NY -  Creative Counsel hosted its first 1000 Voices Filmmaker Screening, featuring Gary Weimberg's and Catherine Ryan's Emmy-award winning Soldiers of Conscience. Co-presented with POV and Luna Productions, this event at the Tribeca Screening Room brought together leaders of the faith, interfaith, veterans, and health care communities.

This Special Preview preceded the POV national broadcast of the film. After the screening, Simon Kilmurry, Executive Director of POV, moderated a highly interactive, thoughtful, and respectful discussion about the difficult issues of war and peace, and the traumas that returning soldiers suffer. The film provided the starting point for a groundbreaking session among a diverse audience of active duty military chaplains, veterans, religious leaders, peace activists and youth leaders.

1000 Voices Screenings are Innovative and Goal Oriented.

In the post-screening discussion, US Army officers, conscientious objectors, and health care providers discussed the value, need, and potential uses of the film in their work. Most importantly, the partnerships that emerged out of the screening will take Soldiers of Conscience into its next and very impactful phase of outreach - as a resource for leaders and communities in addressing complex, sensitive issues of conscience, morality, and war.

Exciting and Tangible Outcomes.

Due in large part to the trusting relationships built over years between the filmmakers and the leaders that attended, many partnerships were deepened that will extend the film's impact for years to come. Both the 1000 Voices Archive and POV are committed to promoting the use of our films way beyond their broadcast dates, both through full length screenings and distribution of 1000 Voices film shorts and online tools.

Real Action.

Nationally respected interfaith, military, and veteran leaders attending our screening vowed to pursue sharing the film and edited vignettes in these ways:

• - Inclusion of the film in the curriculum of sophomore cadets at West Point
• - Use of the film as a discussion resource at the national Training Conference for Episcopal Church chaplains and hopefully at the 2009 General Convention of The Episcopal Church
• - A staff screening with leaders from the Pastoral Care and Education Department of Lenox Hill Hospital and Health Care Chaplaincies
• - Sharing of the POV broadcast and film with the networks of Faith Voices for the Common Good
• - Use of the film as a resource for the National Youth Conference of the Union of Reform Judaism
• - Public screening by various New York City organizations seeking to engage youth and Muslim and Arab communities, with a discussion on issues raised by the film

The 1000 Voices Archive applauds Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan for their years of work to ensure that Soldiers of Conscience makes a difference in the world. Special thanks goes to Ian Slattery of Luna Productions and POV's Simon Kilmurry for such a successful evening.

We encourage funders and local communities to contact the Soldiers of Conscience team. If you are part of a faith, interfaith or veterans' network, or a health care provider, please consider hosting a screening of the film or film shorts, and join the tremendous groundswell that has emerged for this very powerful film.