Playing for Change
Peace Through Music
Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls
USA | 2008 | 80 min
English with French subtitles
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Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people.
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No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world. A great documentary with musicians from around the world sharing their passion!
Mark Johnson is a Grammy-winning producer/engineer and award-winning film director whose visionary concept a decade ago became the driving force behind Playing for Change. His work was spotlighted in a profile on the PBS series Bill Moyers Journal.
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For the past decade, he has worked with some of the most renowned producers in the music, film, and television industries, and with such musical artists as Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, Rikki Lee Jones, Los Lobos, and Taj Mahal. In 2005, Johnson earned a “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” Grammy as producer/engineer of the Keb’ Mo’ album Keep It Simple. In 2010, Mark and Playing For Change won the Cubadisco Award for best world album in Cuba.
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Johnson parlayed his musical knowledge and technical skills in perfecting an innovative mobile technique for recording street musicians around the world, and combining their performances, giving birth to the Songs Around The World. His first documentary film, Playing for Change: A Cinematic Discovery of Street Musicians, won honors at several European festivals, and his more recent project, Playing for Change: Peace through Music, garnered awards and critical praise at the Tribeca Film Festival, Maui Film Festival, San Francisco Black International Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, and New England’s Roxbury Film Festival, where it earned “Best Song” for “Stand by Me”.
Mark Johnson has also been a keynote speaker at the United Nations, TED Global, the University of Michigan’s Martin Luther King Day Celebration, The World Economic Forum in Davos as well as the Million Dollar Round Table. Mark is on the board of the Playing for Change Foundation and continues to travel the world uniting people through music and education.
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In 1997, Jonathan Walls graduated from St. Bonaventure University in his hometown of Olean, New York. It was there that he made his first documentary titled, The Legacy Project: Preserving Life. Upon graduation, Jonathan continued his path of education and attended a workshop for directing at the New York Film Academy.
While at NYFA he met Rehina Pereira, Founder and Executive Producer of Verite Productions in Singapore who collaborated with Jonathan on an historical documentary for the National History Museum of Singapore. While shooting in Singapore, he met with MTV Asia and directed/edited a reality-based series called It’s My Life which won The Best Editing Award. In 2001, Jonathan joined forces with Whitney Burditt and Mark Johnson on the award-winning Playing for Change: A Cinematic Discovery of Street Music.
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In 2004, Jonathan ventured out of the documentary world and into the dramatic, scripted world. He teamed up with Producers/Writers/Actors, Jay Thames and Travis Schuldt on a feature film titled, Automatic. Automatic premiered at the SXSW film festival in 2005 and continued its successful festival run, ending with the top award at the Peniscola International Film Festival in Spain. Playing for Change: Peace Through Music is Jonathan’s third feature length film.