Time for Peace (Zaman El Salaam)

Proving that music can transcend the most intractable international conflicts, this moving documentary captures the essence of the 1993 Peace Concert, held in Oslo, Norway. This musical celebration marked the signing of the historic Oslo Agreement - sealed onstage during the concert - by Arafat and Peres. As conducted by Zubin Metha, the concert included the performance of "Time for Peace," a new song by Yair Dalal, sung in Arabic, Hebrew and English by Palestinian, Israeli and Norwegian children. This international choir of young voices alone is a hopeful vision of a peaceful future. Featuring appearances by Harry Belafonte, and the Prime Minister and Crown Princess of Norway.

Director Yvonne Kahan, is a young Norwegian-born film and television director now living in Israel. At the age of 28, she has already six full length TV projects behind her, the latest of which, FROM FOUR WINGS was broadcast on Israeli prime-time channel 1. She directed YOU SHALL TELL YOUR CHILDREN a 50 min. educational film for the Norwegian Education Ministry, about the history of the Jews of Norway. In Israel she directed several project-films for museums. The latest exhibition was about ghetto Lodz - ten historic/educational films exhibited in the Holocaust museum Yad Vashem in Jerusalem 1994-95. Between them MENDL GROSSMAN-A PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE GHETTO, a 25 min. documentary about an art photographer's documentation of a ghetto in World War II. Ms. Kahan's in-depth knowledge of the lifestyles and the mentalities both in Norway, the Middle East and to music is a clear asset to this production. The TV documentary ZAMAN El SALAAM accompanies the Peace concert in Oslo on September 13, 1994, in the presence of Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres, PLO leader Yassir Arafat, and Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The concert celebrated the signing of the Norwegian-moderated Oslo agreement bringing about the successful conclusion of the Gaza-Jericho accord. The concert featured leading international performers, such as Harry Belafonte,the Gypsy kings, Finnish singer Arja Saionmaa, violinist Ivry Gitlis, maestro Zubin Mehta with the Norwegian Philharmonic, and Israeli and Palestinian children-choirs.