What Cinema for Peace Foundation does

Cinema for Peace Foundation is a Berlin-based German non-profit foundation (Stiftung) established in 2008, growing from a 2001 initiative, that uses film as a medium to advance awareness of humanitarian, political, and environmental challenges. Its programmatic portfolio is anchored by the annual Cinema for Peace and Democracy Gala in Berlin, which presents the Cinema for Peace Doves awards and the Noble Prize for Guardians of Democracy; the freely accessible Genocide Film Library, an online archive of over 1,300 audiovisual testimonies from Srebrenica genocide survivors modeled on the USC Shoah Foundation Institute; the School Film Screenings program and Film Catalogue, which provide free film screenings, workshops, and curated resources to all schools in Germany; the Monthly Screenings series running across Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Barcelona, Africa, Israel, and Palestine; and the THEMBA HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, which has reached nearly 12,500 people across 95+ communities in South Africa and Zambia since 2010.

The foundation's underlying platform is essentially a curated film-based advocacy and education stack, with no disclosed proprietary technology stack beyond a Squarespace-hosted website and a digital archive. All programming is delivered free of charge; the foundation generates funding through its high-profile annual gala events, which serve as both fundraising vehicles and visibility platforms, alongside donations from prominent supporters including political leaders, celebrities, and institutional donors. The organization operates with 11-50 staff from a single headquarters in Berlin and has expanded its geographic footprint to approximately 10+ countries across Western Europe, Southern and Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and Southeastern Europe.

Strategic positioning rests on a distinctive network of endorsements from figures such as Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Pope Francis, Nelson Mandela, Ban Ki-moon, and entertainment industry leaders, combined with formal partnerships including the USC Shoah Foundation, the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, the German Federal Government, and The World Forum on the Future of Democracy, AI/Tech and Humankind. Founder Jaka Bizilj has personally driven initiatives reaching beyond traditional film programming, notably the 2024 multi-country prisoner exchange mission that secured the release of Kara-Murza, Gershkovich, and Whelan. The foundation has no disclosed funding rounds, no private equity or venture backing, and no public financial reporting.

Name

Cinema for Peace Foundation

Legal name

Cinema for Peace Foundation

Website

https://cinemaforpeace-foundation.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cinema for Peace Foundation is a Berlin-based German non-profit that uses film to advance humanitarian, political, and environmental awareness through annual galas, awards, free public and school screenings, an online Genocide Film Library, and HIV/AIDS outreach in Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Non-profit humanitarian film advocacy

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Exhibition (51213), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830)

akta.pro primary industry

Media Arts & Film/Photography Nonprofits (BPAGAHAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community & Cultural Screenings (Museums, Cultural Centers) (MPADAKAH), Campus & Educational Screenings (Universities, Schools) (MPADAKAI), Screening Rooms & Cinematheques (Nonprofit/Institutional) (MPADAKAF), Social Issue & Advocacy Documentaries (MPADADAG)

Keywords

• Humanitarian film advocacy
• Documentary film awards
• Genocide film archive
• School film screenings
• Peace and democracy events

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Annual Gala Events: High-profile charity gala events featuring celebrity honorees, film awards, and high-profileattendees including world leaders. Events serve as fundraising vehicles while honoring contributions to peace and democracy.
2. Donations and Foundation Support: Funding from prominent supporters including celebrities, political figures, and institutional donors who support the foundation's mission of using film to advance peace and democracy.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cinema for Peace Foundation is a Berlin-based international non-profit organization that uses film as a medium to spotlight humanitarian, political, and environmental challenges. It operates the annual Cinema for Peace and Democracy Gala and Cinema for Peace Doves awards, free Monthly Screenings in multiple global cities, the online Genocide Film Library of 1,300+ survivor testimonies, School Film Screenings and a Film Catalogue for German schools, and the THEMBA HIV/AIDS awareness screening campaign in Southern Africa.

Product overview

Cinema for Peace Foundation is a Berlin-based international non-profit organization that operates a portfolio of interconnected film-based programs. The core offerings include the annual Cinema for Peace and Democracy Gala featuring the Cinema for Peace Doves awards, the freely accessible Genocide Film Library digital archive, and educational programs including School Film Screenings and Monthly Screenings. The Foundation also runs the Themba Screenings HIV/AIDS awareness campaign and maintains a Film Catalogue for German schools. These programs work together to advance the Foundation's mission of using cinema to spotlight inequality, injustice, and humanitarian crises while supporting filmmakers whose work promotes peace and democratic values.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cinema for Peace and Democracy Gala Annual high-profile gala event in Berlin that honors films and individuals advancing peace, justice, and democracy. Features presentation of Cinema for Peace Doves awards and the Noble Prize for Guardians of Democracy, attended by world leaders, filmmakers, dissidents, and humanitarian figures.
• Cinema for Peace Doves Annual film award program honoring films and filmmakers addressing humanitarian, political, environmental, and social issues across multiple categories, presented at the Cinema for Peace and Democracy Gala.
• Genocide Film Library Freely accessible online archive of over 1,300 audiovisual testimonies from survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, intended for scholars, educators, students, researchers, NGO activists, and filmmakers worldwide.
• School Film Screenings Free educational program offering German schools curated film screenings on humanitarian, political, and environmental topics, followed by panel discussions with experts and filmmakers, plus film workshops and short film competitions for students.
• Monthly Screenings Ongoing free public screening program featuring documentary and feature films on global issues, held in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Barcelona, Africa, Israel, and Palestine, with expert-led discussions.
• THEMBA Screenings HIV/AIDS awareness campaign utilizing the film 'THEMBA - A Boy Called Hope' featuring screenings across rural South African and Zambian communities, reaching nearly 12,500 people across 95+ communities to break stigma and educate about the epidemic.
• Film Catalogue Online research tool providing access to curated films on political, humanitarian, and environmental topics, including a special 'green choice' section on agriculture, food issues, and plastic pollution, available free to schools in Germany.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,300 audiovisual testimonies preserved in the Genocide Film Library
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, minor and core.

• German Government (Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Minister Marco Buschmann)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 September 2024Collaborated on prisoner exchange mission that secured the release of Vladimir Kara-Murza, Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and others after official negotiations failed for over a year.
• President Recep Tayyip ErdoganflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 September 2024Played a key role in facilitating the prisoner exchange of Kara-Murza, Gershkovich, Whelan and others through diplomatic efforts.
• J/P Haitian Relief OrganizationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded by Sean Penn after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Cinema for Peace Los Angeles gala in 2012 benefited this organization. Foundation collaborates on humanitarian relief efforts through film advocacy.
• University of Southern California Shoah Foundation InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded by Steven Spielberg. Cinema for Peace Foundation's Genocide Film Library was inspired by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute's approach to preserving audiovisual testimonies from genocide survivors.
• Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMemorial and cemetery for victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Genocide Film Library serves as a vital addition to existing oral history materials covering the 1992-1995 conflict.
• South African Partners for THEMBA ScreeningscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEstablished South African partners conducting THEMBA HIV/AIDS awareness screening tours in rural areas across South Africa and Zambia. Foundation provides funding and support for screening tours reaching communities.
• The World Forum on the Future of Democracy, AI/Tech and HumankindflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosts the Cinema for Peace and Democracy Gala 2026 with this forum. Partnership brings together world leaders, filmmakers, dissidents, and humanitarians for discussions on democracy and technology.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Tribeca Film Festival: Film festival with explicit social-impact mission, founded post-9/11 with humanitarian themes (artist-as-witness). Similar community-led GTM, gala-driven fundraising, and documentary award programming focused on pressing global issues.
• Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival: North America's largest documentary festival, conference, and market. Similar in mission to advance documentary storytelling on social, political, and humanitarian issues and in operating public screening programs alongside an awards/festival structure.
• Sundance Institute: U.S.-based nonprofit that runs a major film festival and supports independent filmmakers through labs, grants, and storytelling initiatives. Comparable as a nonprofit organization advancing social-impact storytelling and supporting filmmakers addressing humanitarian themes.
• International Documentary Association (IDA): Nonprofit membership organization supporting documentary filmmakers through grants, advocacy, and the IDA Documentary Awards. Comparable as a nonprofit that advances documentary filmmaking as a tool for social impact and human rights.
• Sheffield DocFest: UK-based documentary and arts festival with strong public screening programs, industry marketplace, and human-rights-themed sections. Comparable as a hybrid festival/charity model combining public screenings, filmmaker support, and social-issue programming.
• Human Rights Watch Film Festival: Annual film festival curated by an international human-rights organization, showcasing documentary and narrative films on global human-rights themes. Direct thematic peer in using cinema to spotlight humanitarian crises and human-rights abuses.
• International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH): Annual Geneva-based film festival dedicated entirely to human-rights films. Direct thematic peer in curating documentary and narrative films specifically around humanitarian and political crises for engaged audiences.

Broad incumbents

• Amnesty International: Global human-rights organization that increasingly uses film, video, and high-profile celebrity ambassadors for advocacy campaigns. Comparable in combining humanitarian advocacy, celebrity endorsements, and film as a core medium for impact (though broader in scope).

Regional players

• Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival): Annual film festival held in the same city (Berlin) that combines cultural programming with social and political themes (e.g., Berlinale Talents, sections on human rights). Directly comparable in city footprint, humanitarian film programming, and stakeholder overlap with Cinema for Peace galas.

Emerging players

• Doc Society (formerly BRITDOC): Global nonprofit that supports impact documentary through Good Pitch forums, impact strategy, and climate/justice programming. Comparable in connecting documentary filmmakers to advocacy outcomes and providing funding/strategy for impact-driven films.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CinemaForPeace

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cinema for Peace Foundation