The Empty Chair

The Elders are an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela in 2007.  At that time, Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi was appointed an honorary Elder and although she has never been able to join them, the Elders always keep an Empty Chair for her at their meetings.

Our video Trailer is coming soon.

The Empty Chair explores non-violence, past and present, and the spirit and philosophy that drive the movement’s core.

Much of humanity lives in greater freedom today because of the non-violent movements of the past century.  From Apartheid to the Soviet Union, Jim Crow to the British Raj, oppressive rule has proven no match for peaceful resistance.  Yet, the falsehood that non-violence does not work in the “real” world persists despite its repeated and resounding successes.  There is an exalted mythology surrounding most nonviolent movements that depict leaders such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as prophets and events such as  the women of Liberia bringing peace to a 14-year civil war and the fall of the Berlin Wall, as miracles. However the impact of non-violence is real and enduring; we have the opportunity to do the same thing in our everyday lives. Ultimately non-violence matters because it works.

Interviews with Nobel Laureate Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tendzin Choegyal/Ngari Rinpoche, and footage of several other Nobel Peace Laureates is complete including Mairead Maguire and Shirin Ebadi.  Additional interviews with other Nobel Laureates are slated for the coming months.

We are actively seeking additional funding to continue our work on this documentary film and look forward to a Premiere Film Festival release followed by a theatrical run and national PBS broadcast in 2011.  If you would like to know more about this project and how you can support our work, please contact us and we will be happy to answer any and all your questions, and if appropriate, provide you with a full proposal and budget summary.   Please consider making a tax-deductible donation via the link below now or by contacting Frame of Mind Films at 510-524-1926.

Thank you,

Rosemary Rawcliffe
President and Founder
Frame of Mind Films

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Tendzin Choegyal – Ngari Rinpoche (H.H. Dalai Lama’s younger brother)

“…I think peace is what we want. Peace is what I want in my own community. Peace is what I want in India. Peace is what I want all over the world. So therefore, I think it’s – if you make a film on nonviolence, then I think it’ll convince more people who are not, you know, supporting nonviolence – they don’t even know what nonviolence means… If you look at present-day China, I think they laugh at nonviolence. They don’t understand. Because they haven’t seen anything else… So therefore if you make one (film), people will come to know. And therefore an effort towards nonviolent ways maybe gains momentum.”

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

“…War seems to be part of the history of humanity… However, today we are so interdependent that the concept of war has become out dated.  Dialogue is the only appropriate method.  One-sided victory is no longer relevant.  We cannot destroy our neighbors! We cannot ignore their interests!  Doing so would ultimately cause us to suffer.  I therefore think that the concept of violence is now unsuitable.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

“The non-violent approach is I think about the most difficult approach in the world, especially nowadays when… people get more and more dependent on weapons in order to get what they want. There is a vast difference in the attitude of a man with a gun in his hand and that of one without… When a man doesn’t have a gun in his hand, or a woman for that matter, he or she tries harder to use his or her mind, a sense of compassion, and intelligence to work out a solution. So we think that the non-violent approach is best for our country.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose. We cannot afford to use methods of which we will be ashamed when we look back, when we say, ‘…we shouldn’t have done that.’ We must remember, my friends, that we have been given a wonderful cause. The cause of freedom! And you and I must be those who will walk with heads held high. We will say, ‘We used methods that can stand the harsh scrutiny of history.”

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