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Female execs and filmmakers advancing interfaith understanding & peace gather in Seoul, South Korea

26 Feb, 2018

Come meet these top female leaders — three business execs and three filmmakers — at the 2018 Global Business & Peace Awards and Symposium in Seoul, Korea, on March 7-8, 2018.

Business Execs

H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, President of Zayed University and former CEO of Tejari, is a powerful force behind the UAE Pledge of Religious Tolerance adopted by government, civil society and business leaders. She not only works hand-in-hand with local Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Sikhs groups, but also with global political leaders and religious figures such as Pope Francis, helping the UAE become a world leader in interfaith action.

Former Dell Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ingrid Vanderveldt, has the audacious goal of by 2020 empowering a billion women from all faiths to work together to achieve more, give more and accomplish more. She believes that the relationship between women in business and this mission is sustainable and helps women leaders worldwide to pursue unity, love and peace.

Inspired by her own faith and working among the blind in Tibet, Shiyin CAI founded of Dialogue in the Dark in China. Through activities such as supporting the first blind runner to complete the Boston Marathon, she is changing society’s prejudices against blind/deaf and all other marginalized groups, and providing job opportunities with dignity to the marginalized.

Filmmakers

Film: Love Has No Borders

by Deborah Paul and Christy Anastas

Deborah Paul and Christy Anastas‘s film,  Love Has No Borders won the Religious Freedom & Business Film Competition Gold Medal, The short film shows two women from different backgrounds joining together to build a business to serve those in need.

Film: Global FC

by Mariya Dostzadah Goodbrake

Global FC by Mariya Dostzadah Goodbrake won the Religious Freedom & Business Film Competition Silver Medal. The film shows that Global FC strengthens Kansas City by using their business to serve the religiously mixed refugee community with a soccer program.

Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards

by Julianna UlrichNatalie Comstock and the team at Contexture International

The team at Contexture International produced the promotional video and the introductory videos for each of the medalists (including Sheikha Lubna, Ingrid Vanderveldt and Shiyin Cai above) coming to the 2018 Global Business & Peace Awards and Symposium in Seoul, South Korea.


The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF) and The Middle East Women’s Leadership Network (MEWLN) launched the Religious Freedom & Business Film Competition in 2017 to highlight women media producers and support freedom of belief. The goal of the competition was to create short films that showcase how religious freedom leads to innovation, peace, entrepreneurship and human flourishing in communities. The winning films will screen before world-class CEOs and UN level leaders at the 2018 Global Business & Interfaith Peace Awards in Seoul, South Korea, March 7-8, 2018.

The grand prize winner of the competition will receive $5,000 and a trip to present her work at the Peace Awards ceremony. Additionally, the wining films will be shared with religious freedom networks, NGOs, government and faith based organizations around the world.

The three-minute films are artful and compelling explorations of the impact of religious freedom (or the lack of it) in the workplace and community. Whether inspired by real-life events or fictional, the films thoughtfully affirm that cultural diversity and religious freedom are good for business and civil society.

The finalist films include:

Love Has No Borders (by Christy Anastas and Deborah Paul)

Global FC  (by Mariya Dostzadah Goodbrake)

Equations (by Nancy Sawyer Schraeder and Naji Hendrix)

Clarkston (by Erin Berhardt)

Paper Dresses (by Lizzie Chaplin)

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For more information about the short films and female media producers, contact the MEWLN Director, Shirin Taber at shirin@visualstory.org.