THE PASO DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL GAVE DAWN ENGLE
THE HUMANITARIAN AWARD FOR HER MANY YEARS OF WORK FOR A NUMBER OF
GREAT CAUSES AND HER WORK WITH PEACEJAM AND ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE
WORLD
Dawn Gifford Engle
is an activist and filmmaker, and she has been
nominated six times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was Director and
Writer of the award-winning documentary film, "PeaceJam" (BBC World
Broadcast Premiere, September 15, 2006), Director and Writer of the
award-winning documentary film, "2012: The True Mayan Prophecy" (PBS
Broadcast Premiere, October 22, 2011), and Director and Writer of
the short film, "Jesus vs Bono" (2011). She has also produced four
hours of programming for BBC World (2006), and co-authored the book,
"PEACEJAM: A Billion Simple Acts of Peace", which was published by
Penguin in 2008. She is currently in post production on her newest
film, "Mayan Renaissance", which will be released in April of 2012.
Dawn Gifford Engle has a background in public service. She worked
for the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. for twelve years, first as
a research assistant to U.S. Senator Robert Griffin, and then as
Legislative Assistant to Congressman Jack Kemp and as Legislative
Director to U.S. Senator Robert Kasten. In 1986, she was promoted to
be Kasten's Chief of Staff, becoming the youngest woman ever to
serve in that position for a U.S. Senator. She also served as an
assistant director of the Republican Platform Committee. In 1994,
she founded the Colorado Friends of Tibet, a statewide non-profit
organization.
In 1994, Dawn Gifford Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff began working
together to create the PeaceJam program, which was launched in March
of 1996. Suvanjieff and Engle became husband and wife in March of
2000, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu presiding over the ceremony.
Currently, Suvanjieff serves as PeaceJam's President, and Engle as
the foundation's Executive Director. PeaceJam has been recognized
nationally as an award-winning service learning program, and
internationally for excellence in peace education.
Ivan Suvanjieff- was lead
singer/song writer for the infamous Detroit punk rock band,
'The Ramrods',he was a journalist and an
editor at CREEM magazine, with his work being featured in
two recently published books: "The Best of
Creem" and "Iggy Pop and the Stooges: The
Authorized
Biography.
He is friends with a gang of the
"Beat/Kerouac" crowd (Alan Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski,
who
were contribution editors to his
literary magazine, "The New Censorship"...Ivan is friends
and works
with the legendary Don Was.
He co-founded PeaceJam Foundation, and has been nominated
for
the Nobel Peace Prize six times
for this good work, and he is Ex Producer and Director of
Photo-
