The first ever Chicago South Asian Film Festival is taking place October 1-3, with 16 films being shown over three days across a wide variety of genres. The festival was conceived by Amit Rana as his project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program.

The festival has blossomed into a major extravaganza, with films being shown at the Chicago Cultural Center and Chicago’s Film Row Cinema, with at least 2,000 visitors expected. Opening night features a red carpet arrival for actors and the director, who will conduct an open question-and-answer with the audience followed by an exclusive gala event. The festival is now being supported by Columbia College, the Network of Indian Professionals of Chicago, and a variety of corporate sponsors.

Visit the CSAFF website to buy tickets and get more official information – below, Rana speaks in his own words about his motivation for initiating the project and some of what it took to make it happen:

I was always passionate about films and movies and wanted my Self-Expression and Leadership project to be in line with this passion. At the time I started SELP, I had joined a non-profit volunteer organization called the Network of Indian Professionals which holds several social and charitable events throughout the year. They were looking to expand their cultural programming and I decided to take on creating Chicago’s First South Asian Film Festival as my community project with my community being Chicago’s  South Asian, film-loving community.

In doing some research, I realized that Los Angeles and New York both have big South Asian Film Festivals but Chicago never had one despite its large South Asian Population. I reached out to a few friends and began forming a team to make the project a reality. Since we didn’t have any experience in organizing a film festival, we really exercised our network to obtain guidance, volunteers, sponsors, and films for the festival. I was surprised to see the enthusiasm within the community for a South Asian Film Festival. Columbia College was the first to enroll into our vision and jumped on board by giving us free theater space for two whole days! The Chicago Cultural Center also gave us free theater space for a whole day. In terms of films, several up and coming filmmakers both in Chicago and outside Chicago were more than happy to send their films in for the festival.

Over the events, the festival has grown from interms of size and goals. More and more volunteers have joined the team and our film programming expanded from 7 movies to now 16 films. In fact we have reached out to Mayor Daley to come and ‘cut the ribbon’ during opening night of the festival.

Watch the video below to see previews from some of the festival films:

As a result of J. Kim Wright’s years of work with families to peacefully mediate legal disputes, and her project created in Landmark Education’s Power and Contribution Course, Wright has published a book, ‘Lawyers as Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving, Law’, which is now available to the public.

Wright worked in family law, and soon discovered that whether they won or lost the case, children and families were usually devastated by the process. Wright ran her practice differently – working with families to focus on what their long-term goals were instead of using the legal system to express anger in a divorce. She became versed in practicing holistic law, therapeutic jurisprudence and similar innovative approaches.

When Wright took part in Landmark Education’s Power and Contribution Course, she created an ‘impossible promise’ – a huge goal involving making a difference in society – to transform the legal profession into a place where lawyers saw themselves as peacemakers and problem solvers.

After interviewing hundreds of lawyers about their experiences, Wright founded the Cutting Edge Law website, which provides articles, videos and blogs supporting the notion of lawyers and healers, based in Wright’s many years of experience in these cutting-edge practices.

Wright’s new book is now available for purchase – go to the bookstore of the American Bar Association to find Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving, Law.

Landmark Education graduate Irena Hart founded the ‘Harmony4Kidz’ non-profit organization to make a difference in the lives of homeless children. Currently, Makarchuk has embarked on the Harmony4Kidz 2010 Summer Tour, putting on events across the United States to benefit homeless children through direct action, empowering their artistic self-expression and raising awareness.

Hart, a Connecticut-based singer who created the organization after an encounter with homeless children around a concert taking place in Central Park in New York City, began the tour on July in New York and is visiting thirteen cities across the U.S. in July and August.

According to Harmony4Kidz, the goals of the tour are to raise awareness about homelessness among children; to raise money for homeless youth to participate in art and music summer camps; to set up scholarships for homeless youth to music and art schools; and to promote community participation. For every $500 raised, Harmony4Kidz can send one child to a summer camp for a week.

A major goal of Harmony4Kidz is to have the funding to operate its own summer camps by 2012. To find out more about the organization, visit the Harmony4Kidz blog or website.

The latest issue of the Landmark Education newsletter has been published, with links to videos of Landmark Forum leaders Jane Wright and David Cunningham exploring a number of topics of interest.

Jane Wright’s video and article (shown below), explore the distinctions of stories and the vicious circle – Wright explains how it is not stories or interpretations themselves that limit us but the collapse of the story with what actually happened.

Later in the newsletter David Cunningham is shown from an appearance on CNN, talking about different strategies and approaches towards having a job and a career that one loves.

Landmark Education also announced the creation of a Landmark Healthy Living blog, which gives the perspectives of both health and fitness experts on a variety of topics, as well as comments from Landmark Education graduates.

Finally, the newsletter features an extensive article on Bob Ballard and his work to empower the homeless through art – Ballards efforts have been featured previously here at Landmark Education News.

Visit the Landmark Education website to subscribe and view the latest edition of the Landmark newsletter.

Landmark Education graduate Arnie Keiser has let Landmark Education News know about the work of his innovative organization for global cooperation – his update follows below.

Landmark graduate Arnie Keiser, President of the Organization for International Cooperation (OIC) recently said, “We haven’t even scratched the surface of the possibilities of diplomacy for solving our major global threats and suffering.”

Governments the world over have many dedicated and highly experienced officials working hard to solve our numerous global problems.  Yet, despite all the hard work and brain power, the world grows infinitely more dangerous and less compassionate daily. Millions continue to die and suffer in 26 ongoing armed conflicts. We have today 9 nuclear armed states, terrorist attacks worldwide and many overwhelming humanitarian tragedies.

OIC is introducing to foreign policymakers and negotiators the use of specialized consultants and programs licensed and developed through Landmark Education. They have consistently produced stunning successes in the private sector for 4 decades. They produce “out of the box” problem solvers and breakthrough communicators.

They can support foreign policymakers and negotiators in identifying critical factors generally overlooked in conflict and cooperation challenges which will lead to unprecedented solutions and results. They can make many things possible in foreign relations that seem impossible at this time.

So far serious interest is being expressed by government officials throughout the Middle East. OIC is currently seeking new volunteer members throughout the world. We can be contacted at 856-596-6679 or by e-mail at ak@oicworldpeace.org. Our web-site is www.oicworldpeace.org

James Kim created ‘Beat Breakers’ while taking part in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program. The purpose of his project was to give New York City High School students a free, after-school, authentic ‘b-boy/b-girl’ (breakdancing) program. The initial program was led by b-boy legend Ken Swift. Watch below.

From the outset, the administrators at the Urban Assembly, who run a network of 21 New York City public high schools, were taken with the program. The New York City Academy of Letters hosted the pilot program, which was a huge success, according to administrators, Swift and his staff, and the students themselves. 18 students were selected for the pilot program, which culminated with a performance for the whole school.

The pilot was sponsored by Puma – Kim hopes this will continue for future programs. It also inspired Kim to have his company start a non-profit named B.E.A.T. (Bringing Education and Arts Together).

The next plan is to launch another program called Beat Rockers, an after school program for blind and visually impaired students at the Lavelle School for the Blind in the Bronx. This program has already been green-lit at the school, although funding is still being sought.

To see more about Beat Breakers, including lots more videos and pictures, visit the Beat Breakers blog or to get more information, email nycbeatbreakers@gmail.com.

P.P. Singh of the city of Faridabad, in northern India, has received attention from a variety of newspapers for the creation of a non-profit named ‘I Love My City’ which has been tackling quality of life issues in that city. ‘I Love My City’, the creation of which was Singh’s project when he took part in the Self-Expression and Leadership Program offered by Landmark Education, has addressed everything from bad roads, traffic, driver safety and overall city cleanliness and litter. This article, from a recent edition of HT Live, tells Singh’s story.

Self empowerment to keep the city clean and free of garbage

by Pawan Pandita

As the IT head of a British multinational, he should have been sitting in his plush office giving commands to his subordinates. However, his fondness for Faridabad compelled this 48-year-old to form a social organization last November, aptly named ‘I love My City’.

Since then, P.P. Singh has been doing something or the other for the cause. The organization was set up with an objective: Let us stop complaining and start contributing.

“Our vision statement is Empowerment of People Through Awareness. Blaming the authorities does not serve any purpose. If we want some change, we will have to be a part of it. Community participation is a must. We are doing our bit by creating awareness about issues that may seem small but are very important,” said this resident of Sector 15-A.

‘I Love My City’ took the first step in the direction on December 6 last year, when it got a battered patch of road, that would get very dangerous due to poor illumination, repaired.

“We repaired a patch of broken concrete road at Sector 23. We used proper concrete mix and created proper diversion for traffic management. Those living around that place supported us,” said Singh.

Traffic indiscipline was the next step. With the help of the then Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shashank Anand, Singh organized a road safety event at Sector 15. It was held on January 24 this year. “We stopped cars and two-wheelers and distributed pamphlets to the drivers. Our closing statement was ‘I Love My City Cares For Your Life – Drive Safely’,” said Singh.

‘I Love My City’ held a cleanliness programme in the Sector 15 market and donated 13 dustbins last week. “I felt that as we are gearing up for the Commonwealth Games, why not create awareness about cleanliness and hygiene among the people? We gave free dustbins to roadside vendors and pamphlets were given to the customers and various shopkeepers to bring awareness,” said Singh.

Geared with brooms, dustpans and gloves, the volunteers picked up garbage from nooks and corners. The volunteers shouted slogans such as ‘koore ki jagab kahan par hai, kooredan mein’ (where does garbage belong, in the dustbin), ‘meri market mera ghar hai, aao ise saal rakehn’ (my market is my home, let us keep it clearn), ‘jahan hai koora, bimari hai wahan’ (wherever there is garbage, diseases come free), and ‘clean city, green city’.

Prominent citizens present included Councillor Som Nath Malhotra, Faridabad Industries Association president Sajan Kumar Jain, industrialist Sunil Culati, and T.D. Jatwani, president, Sector 15 RWA.

Ankita Sharma, a four year-old volunteer, took pride in picking up the litter to clean the city and the market. Jatwani, the oldest of the group, enthusiastically supported the cause.

“Creating Awareness is the first step to bring about change,” said Manbir Kaur, a volunteer, who does the same in the school where she teaches. Another volunteer, Amarjit Kaur Bains, created slogans that kept the tempo of the campaign high as they marched through the market.

Singh said the next step is to spread safety awareness among cyclists with the help of factory owners. “We have planned an event, Mera Worker Aur Uski Suraksha, in which event, we are involving big industries,” he said.

During the rainy season, they are planning to select a road in the sector for planting trees before cleaning and leveling it. The event will be held with the support of the RWA concerned and the MCF.

And the show goes on. Singh and his associates are planning some events in September before the Commonwealth Games. If your care for Faridabad, visit them at www.ilovemycity.in, their website.

Olga’s Beautiful Beings was created by Olga Nisenboim to make a difference for women impacted by sexual assault and abuse. As her project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership program, Olga and her spa, Olga’s Day Spa of Highland Park, Illinois, put on ‘Olga’s Beautiful Beings’ first event, which gave more than a dozen clients of the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center a full day of spa treatment.

The event, held April 29, provided spa and hair services and gave each attendee a gift bag. In the words of Nisenboim, it was provided to empower women and restore confidence, giving them a day of beauty. The video below tells about Olga’s Beautiful Beings and the work of the Zacharias Center, of which Nisenboim has been a long term supporter. For more information, go to Olga’s Beautiful Beings website.