AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR
AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR
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AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR
The First Documentary About Peter Schumann and the Bread & Puppet Theater In Over 20 Years
Vermont Film Tour
A Benefit Fundraiser for the Bread and Puppet Film Project and Junction Arts & Media
A Production of Turning Tide Films, in association with Upper Valley Rise Up, Junction Arts & Media, Three Rivers Indivisible, Upper Valley Resistance Group, and UV Visibility Brigade
Sunday, June 28 at 6pm • $15 in advance • $20 at the door (No one will be turned away for lack of funds)
Briggs Opera House • 5 South Main Street • White River Junction, VT 05001
Join filmmaker Robbie Leppzer and Mohsen Mahdawi, Palestinian advocate for human rights, for the White River Junction screening of AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR, a vibrant portrait of Peter Schumann, the visionary founder of the Bread & Puppet Theater, whose six decades of radical political performance have been forged from a single, searing childhood question: how do we as humans respond to the madness of war and violence?
Born in Nazi Germany and shaped by the brutal reality of war via the aerial bombardments he experienced as a child, Schumann channeled this trauma into one of the most iconic and boundary-breaking theater companies in the world. Bread & Puppet came of age in the Vietnam War street protests of 1960s New York, and grew into its full form on a 250-acre Vermont farm in the 1970s, where the landscape itself became a stage that draws tens of thousands to its epic, large-scale spectacles.
Decades later, as international norms collapse and atrocities unfold in Gaza in plain sight, Schumann — now 91 and still working with fierce urgency — finds his life's central question more pressing than ever. Drawing on originally shot footage and a remarkable archive of spanning more than 40 years, the film offers an intimate window into the man, his art, and his unbroken faith that creativity can stand against the brutality of power.
In an age desperate for hopeful figures of cultural resistance, AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR is a testament to the radical, enduring idea that art is not a retreat from the world — it is a way of fighting for it.
Following the screening of AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR, which runs 45 minutes, filmmaker Robbie Leppzer will be in conversation with Mohsen Mahdawi, about his life growing up in Palestine in the West Bank, his work as an advocate for human rights, and the current state of his legal battles to fight deportation, followed by an audience Q & A.
Please spread the word about our film!
This event is a benefit fundraiser for the Bread & Puppet Film Project, which filmmaker Robbie Leppzer and Turning Tide Films have been producing for 9 years. In addition to releasing AN ARTIST RESPONDS TO WAR, we are also currently editing a feature-length documentary, BREAD & PUPPET: THE THEATER OF PETER SCHUMANN, about the full life story of Peter Schumann and the 63-year history of The Bread & Puppet Theater that will be completed in 2027.
Find out how you can help us finish the feature-length film:
Proceeds from this event will also benefit Junction Arts & Media.
Location
Briggs Opera House, White River Junction, VT, 05001