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Narrated by actors Matt Damon, Geena Davis, Tilda Swinton, and Alfre Woodard

(New York) What if you looked at war as though women mattered? What if you looked at peace as though women mattered? These two questions are at the heart of a five-hour series, Women, War & Peace, a comprehensive global media initiative on the changing roles of women in war and peace. Actors Matt Damon, Geena Davis, Tilda Swinton, and Alfre Woodard narrate.

Filmed in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, and Liberia, Women, War & Peace premiering Tuesdays, October 11, 18, 25 and November 1 and 8 at 10 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings) couldn't be timelier. As the recent developments in Afghanistan make headlines around the world, Women, War & Peace places women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security.

Among the women spotlighted are Afghan women's rights activists who are risking their lives to make sure that women have a seat at the table in peace talks with the Taliban; the courageous Bosnian women who broke history's great silence and testified about their rape and sexual enslavement, leading to a historic court victory; two extraordinary Colombian women who are braving death threats to remain on the gold-rich land that has sustained their community for centuries; and a group of Liberian women, led by activist Leymah Gbowee, who faced down the killers and brought peace to their country.  The Liberian women's inspiring story is told in the award-winning documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, airing for the first time on U.S. television as part of Women, War & Peace.

As Women, War & Peace reveals, the majority of today's conflicts are not fought by nations and their armies, but rather by gangs, insurgent groups, and warlords armed with small arms and improvised weapons. Women have become primary targets in these conflicts and though they are suffering unprecedented casualties they are simultaneously emerging as critical partners in brokering peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict. For five consecutive weeks, Women, War & Peace focuses on the under-reported stories of the women who are changing the rules of engagement in conflict hotspots all over the world, reframing our understanding of modern warfare.

I Came to Testify – October 11 at 10 p.m. ET

I Came to Testify is the moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned and raped by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history's great silence and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. Their remarkable courage resulted in a triumphant verdict that led to new international laws about sexual violence in war. Matt Damon, who narrates the film, has taped a behind-the-scenes-video talking about why the themes of this series matter to men, too. Hear Matt Damon at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/women-war-and-peace/features/why-should-men-care/

Pray the Devil Back to Hell – October 18 at 10 p.m. ET

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the astonishing story of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and regime of dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war and won a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country in 2003. Among the women featured is Leymah Gbowee, the leader of the Liberian women's peace movement. Gbowee is based in Accra, Ghana, where she is executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network – Africa. Her book, Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, with Carol Mithers will be published in September 2011 by Beast Books.

Peace Unveiled – October 25 at 10 p.m. ET

When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women in Afghanistan who are risking their lives to make sure that women have a seat at the negotiating table. Tilda Swinton narrates.

The War We Are Living – November 1 at 10 p.m. ET

The War We Are Living travels to Cauca, a mountainous region in Colombia's Pacific southwest, where two extraordinary Afro-Colombian women are fighting to stay on their gold-rich lands. They are standing up for a generation of Colombians who have been terrorized and forcibly displaced as a deliberate strategy of war. Alfre Woodard narrates.

War Redefined – November 8 at 10 p.m. ET

War Redefined, the capstone of Women, War & Peace, challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men's domain through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, secretaries of state, and seasoned survivors of war and peacemaking. Interviewees include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and both her female predecessors, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic; and globalization expert Moises Naim. Geena Davis narrates.

To extend public awareness, political debate, and community action around the issues showcased in Women, War & Peace, WNET and Fork Films are launching a far-reaching outreach and audience engagement campaign in communities across the United States and around the world. The campaign is intended to augment audiences before, during, and after the series premiere in October 2011. In addition, this fall, Women, War & Peace joins the collection of films offered by Women and Girls Lead for free community screenings leading up to the series' premiere. Women and Girls Lead is a multi-year public media initiative to focus, educate, and connect citizens worldwide in support of the issues facing women and girls.

Accompanying the broadcast of Women, War & Peace is a companion website (womenwarandpeace.org) featuring video clips, audio interviews, behind-the-scenes reports from filmmakers and stakeholders, original reporting, web-exclusive content, interviews with leading scholars and journalists, and educator and facilitator guides.

Women, War & Peace is a co-production of THIRTEEN and Fork Films in association with WNET and ITVS. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local documentaries and other programs to the New York community. The series was created by executive producers Abigail E. Disney, Pamela Hogan, and Gini Reticker. Senior producer is Nina Chaudry. Filmmakers are Pamela Hogan (I Came to Testify); Gini Reticker, Abigail E. Disney, and Johanna Hamilton (Pray the Devil Back to Hell); Gini Reticker and Claudia M. Rizzi (Peace Unveiled); Oriana Zill de Granados (The War We Are Living); and Peter Bull and Nina Chaudry (War Redefined). Field producers are Rialda Ocuz (I Came to Testify); Leslie Knott (Peace Unveiled); Najibullah Quraishi (Peace Unveiled); and Juan Carlos Isaza (The War We Are Living). Directors of photography are Kirsten Johnson, Lucy Martens, and Anthony Forma. Editors are Pascal Akesson, Andrew Fredericks, Kristen Huntley, Rachel Reichman, Meg Reticker, and Kate Taverna. Executive in charge for WNET is Stephen Segaller, vice president of programming.  

Major funding for Women, War & Peace is provided by the 40x50, a group of visionary donors who have provided key support for this initiative; Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Foundation to Promote Open Society; Ford Foundation; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Swanee Hunt Family Fund of the Denver Foundation; Starry Night, an Anne Delaney Charitable Fund; The Atlantic Philanthropies; Dobkin Family Foundation; Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family; Bill Haney; Pierre N. Hauser; Susan Disney Lord; Partridge Foundation, a John and Polly Guth Charitable Fund; Vital Projects Fund; Elizabeth H. Weatherman and The Warburg Pincus Foundation; The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; Barbara H. Zuckerberg; Sigrid Rausing Trust; more than 1,500 Members of THIRTEEN; and Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for I Came to Testify is also provided by National Endowment for the Humanities, and for Peace Unveiled by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Funding for the online Education Guide is provided by The Overbrook Foundation.

Resources:

http://www.womenwarandpeace.org/