Honoring Cora Weiss, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Women’s Rights and Peace Activist & Former DCTV Board Chair
Jon Alpert and Keiko Tsuno made headlines with a 1977 journalistic coup when they became the first American television crew allowed back into Vietnam after the U.S. withdrawal and were given unprecedented access to the ruined countryside and its people. The resulting "up-close" study of Vietnam's grim post war reality relies on the voices of the common people to tell their stories.
Join us as we honor Cora Weiss, President, Hague Appeal for Peace, and DCTV Board Member, who made this film possible through her global diplomacy. She played a crucial role in getting Americans to be eyewitness reporters during the Vietnam War and was an escort for three POWs released as a peace gesture from Vietnam. With a lifetime of activism, and groundbreaking achievements, including co-drafting UN Security Council Resolution 1325, Women Peace and Security, which calls for the participation of women at all levels of government and the prevention of violent conflict, Weiss has crucial perspectives that could help guide us through our current global instability.
12:30pm: Welcome Reception
1:00pm: Introduction and Film Screening*
2:00pm: Conversation with Cora Weiss, Jon Alpert, and Keiko Tsuno, moderated by Paul Hoeffel, Rain Barrel Communications
*Livestream will begin at 1:00pm, and include introduction, screening, and conversation.
Panelist Bios
Cora Weiss | Nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize for her extraordinary work against the Vietnam War and for organizing the Hague Appeal for Peace Congress, and once nominated together with her husband, Peter Weiss, for their anti-nuclear work. Her work spans generations and geographic areas including her leadership in the anti-Vietnam war movement, abolition of nuclear weapons, and anti-apartheid in South Africa. Working alongside other women's civil society organizations and UNIFEM, Cora Weiss participated in drafting UN Security Council 1325 on women, peace, and security. She was one of the first women to have a radio program: Cora Weiss Comments on WRVR. Cora Weiss served as the President of The Hague Appeal for Peace, was a founder of the Global Campaign for Peace Education, and has supported the United Nations from the 1950s onwards.
Jon Alpert, DCTV Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, has won 17 national Emmy Awards, as well as 4 duPont-Columbia Awards, 2 Overseas Press Club Awards, and a Peabody Award. He’s also received 2 Academy Award nominations. Jon received international acclaim for his intrepid work in Iraq (during the Gulf War and recently), Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, the former Soviet Union, and the Philippines. More than a hundred of his documentaries and reports from across the United States and around the world have been widely broadcast on HBO, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, ESPN, Canadian and Japanese major Networks.
Keiko Tsuno co-founded DCTV in 1972. Keiko is one of the video pioneers of minority women. Keiko's work includes: The Story of Vinh (1991), winner of the CINE Golden Eagle Award and Work of Special Distinction at the Tokyo Video Festival; Invisible Citizens: Japanese Americans (1985), nominated for Best Documentary for the Monitor Award; Third Avenue: Only the Strong Survive (1980), which received the National Emmy Award for Best Editing, the Monitor Award for Best Documentary, and the Grand Prix at the Tokyo Video Festival; Vietnam: Picking up the Pieces (1978), nominated for the Columbia-Dupont Award; and Chinatown: Immigrants in America (1976), winner of the Columbia-Dupont Award, Citation Award, Christopher Award, and the INDIE Award.
Paul Hoeffel, co-founder of Rain Barrel Communications, a consultancy that “speaks the language of sustainability and social justice” with clients currently in 11 countries. After working for many years as an award-winning journalist, Paul joined the United Nations and, over 25 years, served, among other assignments, as a liaison with Non-Governmental Organizations working with the UN. In his last assignment, he was director of the UN Information Centre in Mexico covering Mexico, Cuba and other countries in the region.
This screening is part of the DCTV @ 50 series. To mark and celebrate this anniversary, DCTV @ 50 unearths our archives to make connections between the past and present, and to host conversations that honor DCTV’s 50-year legacy of service to the documentary film community and the people who have made our work possible. More events are coming soon, honoring Keiko Tsuno, DCTV’s Co-Founder and our award-winning Youth Media program.