The vast majority of today’s conflicts are not fought by nation states and their armies, but rather by informal entities: gangs and warlords using small arms and improvised weapons. Women, War & Peace by Abigail Disney, Gini Reticker, and Pamela Hogan, reveals how the post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, with women becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties. Yet they are simultaneously emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

With narration by Matt Damon, Geena Davis, Tilda Swinton and Alfre Woodard;  Women, War & Peace spotlights the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, placing women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframing our understanding of modern warfare. Women, War & Peace premieres Tuesdays, October 11, 18, 25 and November 1 and 8 at 10 PM on PBS (check local listings).

Watch the trailer after the jump >>

Watch the full episode. See more Women War and Peace.

Women, War & Peace is the first broadcast of Women and Girls Lead, a three-year public media initiative designed to focus, educate, and connect women, girls, and their allies across the globe to address the challenges of the 21st century. The program is a co-production of THIRTEEN and Fork Films in association with WNET and ITVS

On Thursday, September 29, 6:30 PM CT, ITVS Community Cinema, Ladies Home Journal, THIRTEEN, and Fork Films will present an exclusive online screening of Women War & Peace on ITVS’s Livestream channel in advance of its television premiere on PBS.

The screening will be followed by an online panel discussion with producer Abigail E. Disney and director Gini Reticker. Online participants will receive an opportunity to ask questions and discuss their reactions to the selected scenes with the filmmakers to learn how women, despite suffering unprecedented casualties, are simultaneously emerging as critical partners in brokering peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

The half hour online screening will feature Women, War & Peace Episode 3: Peace Unveiled. When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women who immediately began to organize to make sure that women’s rights don’t get traded away in the deal. Narrated by Tilda Swinton, Peace Unveiled premieres October 25, 2011 at 10 PM ET on PBS.

Women, War & Peace is the first broadcast of Women and Girls Lead, a three-year public media initiative designed to focus, educate, and connect women, girls, and their allies across the globe to address the challenges of the 21st century. Filmed in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, and Liberia; with narration by actors Matt Damon, Geena Davis, Tilda Swinton and Alfre Woodard; Women, War & Peace premieres Tuesdays, October 11, 18, 25 and November 1 and 8 at 10 PM ET on PBS (check local listings).

Women, War & Peace is a co-production of THIRTEEN and Fork Films in association with WNET and ITVS.

What is it really like to live in Jerusalem? Promises offers touching and fresh insight into the Middle East conflict when filmmakers Justine Shapiro, B. Z. Goldberg, and Carlos Bolado travel to this complex and charged city to see what seven children — Palestinian and Israeli — think about war, peace, and just growing up.

Living within 20 minutes of each other, these children are nevertheless locked in separate worlds. Through candid interviews, the film explores a legacy of distrust and bitterness, but signs of hope emerge when some of the children dare to cross the checkpoints to meet one another.

Please join in via chat or by using the Twitter hashtag #magd. How do you think the media is doing in helping divergent cultures understand and empathize with one another? Is technology delivering on its promise to democratize media in a true sense? What could we be doing better?

Dive in and be heard:

Newseum streaming video requires JavaScript to work properly. To view this live stream, please enable JavaScript on your browser.

You’ll able to engage panelists through a live chat and Twitter (#magd). We encourage you to take part! Sign up and find full details of the event at www.usip.org.

The summit, Seizing the Moment: Media and Peacebuilding, will be moderated by NPR’s Michel Martin, host of the acclaimed program Tell Me More, and will bring together more than 20 thought leaders, CEOs, media makers, and policy gurus to tackle the tough questions around leveraging today’s global media to facilitate conflict resolution and contribute to the expansion of peace.

The summit will present a series of three discussions (The New News:  Media at the Crossroads, Storytelling 2.0: Keeping it Real,Opening Minds, and Changing Hearts, and Next Generation Peacebuilders) alongside select content from new documentaries coming to PBS and other outlets, including the Academy® Award-nominated The Most Dangerous Man in America and Project Kashmir airing on Independent Lens on May 18th.

The day’s panelists include:

• Jared Cohen—Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State
• Patricia Harrison—President and CEO, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Marvin Kalb—Veteran Broadcaster and Visiting Expert, USIP
• Riz Khan—Senior  News Anchor, Al Jazeera English
• Gary Knell—President and CEO, Sesame Workshop
• Mir Ibrahim Rahman—CEO, Geo TV Pakistan

Please tune in and add your voice to this important conversation.

Join ITVS and CARE at the 11th Annual Power to the Peaceful Concert and Global Action Forum & Celebration. For the past 10 years Michael Franti, singer/activist and ambassador for the global humanitarian organization CARE, has hosted the free event. This year, more than 70,000 attendees are expected to turn out for a day of music and inspiration to serve the people and the planet.

On Saturday, September 12, 9:00 AM–5:00 PM, come out to the free concert and visit the ITVS booth at Golden Gate Park, Speedway Meadow, to learn more about the free documentary screenings from the upcoming season of Community Cinema. Free resources will also be available to educators.

The festival continues on Sunday, September 13, 2:00 PM–9:00 PM, at the San Francisco War Memorial Building, Herbst Theater and Green Ballroom. Join the afternoon symposium to learn about global poverty issues, particularly those affecting women. The Power to the Peaceful Global Action Forum & Celebration will feature experts from the global poverty-fighting organization CARE, as well as civic and community leaders who will discuss topics including girls’ education, climate change, hunger and food security. Presenters include representatives from CARE, Back to Earth, the Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Potentia Foundation, Room to Read, Spark, UC Berkeley, Vitamin Angels and others.

The event will culminate with an evening reception featuring an intimate acoustic concert with Michael Franti and friends, the presentation of the Stay Human award to a celebrated humanitarian and much more.

Learn more about the event >>

Buy tickets >>

We hope to see you there!