Toast to Freedom: A Celebration of Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary

“Here’s our toast to freedom,
To human rights and dignity,
Love, respect and forgiveness,
United in the dream for victory.”

Toast to Freedom is a music video dedicated to human rights activism around the world. Nearly 50 artists contributed to the video, celebrating Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary. The basic tracks for Toast to Freedom were recorded at the legendary Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, N.Y. One of the last studio recordings by the late Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Levon Helm, it was also one of the closest to his heart.

The song continues a long relationship between Amnesty International and the creative community, which has helped spread the word of its mission almost from the start in 1961. Artists contributing to Toast to Freedom included: Levon Helm, Kris Kristofferson, Carly Simon, Angelique Kidjo, Ewan McGregor, Saul Hernandez, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Keb Mo, Eric Burdon, Taj Mahal, Florent Pagny, Marianne Faithfull, Jane Birkin, Jimmy Barnes, Rosanne Cash, Shawn Mullins, the Blind Boys of Alabama and Gentleman, among others.

Toast to Freedom: A Celebration of Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary

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The Making of “Toast to Freedom”

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Toast to Freedom (Long Version)

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War School: Military Training for Child Soldiers

War School is an acclaimed, chilling short film directed by English filmmaker Ben Newman. War School was a film competition winner at Ctrl.Alt.Shift, a movement for a new generation fighting social and global injustice. The film re-creates a military training camp for child soldiers in a British school, transplanting the horror and injustice of the indoctrination of child soldiers to a British classroom setting. This short film performs one of the key roles of visual media in social activism, bridging the gap between the audience and a distant reality. By changing the context of the violation, the film recasts child soldiers; no longer are they simply “distant others” worthy of our pity and damned to a place of violence, but rather precious children in need of our attention and support.

War School: Military Training for Child Soldiers

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