Jaka Bizilj

Jaka Bizilj 2009

Jaka Bizilj (born December 8, 1971 in Ljubljana , Slovenia ) is a Slovenian film producer , author and political activist.

life and career

Jaka Bizilj grew up in Slovenia, Libya, Tanzania, Malaysia and Germany and graduated from university in 1991. Already during his school days and his studies he dedicated himself to journalism. Jaka Bizilj created articles for print, radio and television.

He has been an organizer and producer since 1995.

In 2002, Bizilj launched the Cinema for Peace initiative . In 2008 the foundation of the same name was founded, of which Bizilj is the chairman of the board.

Organizer, producer, founder

In 1995 Bizilj began to organize concerts. Participating artists were e.g. B. Andrea Bocelli , Udo Jürgens , Bryan Adams , Montserrat Caballé , Max Raabe and Liza Minnelli . He organized tours, e.g. B. with José Carreras . Bizilj has been an international producer since the end of the 1990s and temporarily advanced to become the largest provider of open-air operas in Europe. He organized up to 700 concerts and live productions a year. In-house productions include Andrew Lloyd Webber's “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Evita”, Elton John's musical “Aida” and the Broadway musical “Jekyll & Hyde”. Bizilj has also co-founded a number of festivals, such as the Nahe Festival or the Speyer Cathedral Festival.

In 2002 he founded the Cinema for Peace initiative and initiated the Cinema for Peace Foundation in 2008 with the aim of “creating awareness of the social relevance of films and the influence of films on the perception and remediation of global social, political and humanitarian grievances clarify and use ". Since 2006, Bizilj has also been working as a film producer. a. the award-winning documentary Letter to Anna by Vaclav Havel about the Russian journalist Anna Politkowskaja and the Richard Curtis remake breakfast with a stranger with Catherine Deneuve , Iris Berben and Jan Josef Liefers . He was also involved in the making of the documentary about the imprisoned Burmese comedian "Zarganar" and in the film productions "After the Silence" and "Song of Names" with Dustin Hoffman and Anthony Hopkins .

In 2016 Jaka Bizilj opened "The Wall Museum" at the East Side Gallery in Berlin

Together with Ai Weiwei , he realized the world-renowned life jacket installation at the Konzerthaus Berlin on the occasion of Cinema for Peace Berlin 2016 . At Cinema for Peace he initiated the “Green Oscar” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Michail Gorbatschow , founded “Sports for Peace” a. a. with Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali and for Sean Penn in Los Angeles the fundraiser “Help Haiti Home”, which finances a large part of his humanitarian work in Haiti .

In February 2020 Bizilj held a festival with films by Ai Weiwei for the first time in the Babylon cinema in Berlin, entitled “Censored”.

In the Corona crisis 2020, Jaka Bizilj wrote a letter to Angela Merkel , which was quoted in Gabor Steingart's "Morning Briefing".

Own entertainment productions / shows / exhibitions

• since 1996 - The Black Gospel Singers
• since 1997 - Nabucco, Aida
• since 1998 - Carmen
• since 1999 - Magic of the Dance
• since 2000 - Romanza with Helen Schneider , Burgfestspiele Königstein / FFM , Nahe Festival (until 2005)
• since 2001 - Stardance , Dancing Queen / Abbafever
• since 2002 - Evita
• since 2003 - The Vienna Johann Strauss Waltz Gala , Festival under the stars / Herrenchiemsee Palace
• since 2004 - Die Zauberflöte , Jedermann
• since 2005 - Last Night of Spectacular Classic , Arena di Bavaria , Wörtherseefestspiele
• 2006 - The World Football Concerts for the FIFA World Cup, Jesus Christ Superstar , Gala Night of the Musical , Mozart Gala
• 2007 - The Lord of the Rings in concert , Queen - a ballet homage by Ben van Cauwenberg
• 2008 - Aida - the musical by Elton John & Tim Rice
• 2009 - Jekyll & Hyde
• 2011 - Phantom of the Opera birthday gala in the O2-World in Berlin, The Fantastic Shadows - Die Welt der Schatten
• 2012 - The Fantastic Shadows - The world of shadows
• 2014 - The Little Prince
• 2015 - Lord of the Rings and the comeback concert by Al Bano and Romina Power in the Berlin Waldbühne
• 2015 - Pre-Opening The Wall Museum at the East Side Gallery in Berlin [2]
• since 2016 - The Wall Museum at the East Side Gallery in Berlin
• 2018/2019 - The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit in Concert with Pippin Billy Boyd , Ben Becker , Sky du Mont
• 2018/2019 - The Music of Hans Zimmer & others
• 2018/2019 - The Music of The Lion King
• 2020 - The magical Music of Harry Potter - live in concert

Productions with an ideal background

• since 2002 - annual Cinema for Peace Gala in Berlin
• 2005 - Long Walk to Justice / Live 8 Germany
• 2008 - Sports for Peace campaign on the occasion of the Summer Olympics in Beijing
• 2009 - Cinema for Peace Dinner in honor of Mikhail Gorbachev on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall
• 2010 - A Special Evening on Justice in Kampala, Uganda
• 2010 - Sports for Peace Gala in Johannesburg, South Africa
• 2010 - Start of the anti-AIDS film campaign with “Themba - A Boy Called Hope” in Cape Town with Desmond Tutu
• 2010 - Special Youth Day screening of "Themba - A Boy Called Hope" in Cape Town, presented by Desmond Tutu
• 2010 - An Evening for Africa in New York with President Paul Kagame, Bob Geldof and Sharon Stone
• 2010 - Green Evening with Sebastian Copeland and Orlando Bloom in Berlin
• 2011 - Cinema for Peace Honorary Dinner Cannes a . a. with Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert de Niro, Uma Thurman and Jane Fonda
• 2011 - Cinema for Peace Dinner & Film Symposium in honor of Hans-Dietrich Genscher in Ljubljana
• 2011 - Cinema for Peace Welcome Dinner in St. Tropez
• 2011 - Cinema for Peace Dinner for Tibet on the occasion of the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama in Wiesbaden with film screenings, speeches and discussions
• 2011 - Cinema for Peace Evening on the Issue of Child Soldiers in The Hague with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the International Criminal Court, petition
• 2011 - Presentation of the first Universal Human Rights Logo and Cinema for Peace Dinner in New York
• 2011 - Justice Gala in New York together with the International Criminal Court
• 2012 - Cinema for Peace Los Angeles - Help Haiti Home
• 2012 - Art & Cinema for Peace Art Basel in support of Ai Weiwei
• 2012 - In the Name of Justice - Farewell Event for Luis Moreno-Ocampo at the International Criminal Court
• 2012 - “Sports for Peace” London honoring Muhammad Ali and celebrating his core values ​​on the occasion of the Olympic Games
• 2012 - Cinema for Peace Dinner New York - Artists help Development and Climate Protection, honoring Sting and Trudie Styler
• 2013 - Cinema for Peace Gala for Humanity, Los Angeles
• 2013 - Cinema for Peace Dinner in honor of UN Women, Berlin
• 2013 - humanitarian trip to Syrian war in Aleppo with Jan Josef Liefers for BILD newspaper
• 2014 - Cinema for Peace Heroes Dinner on the occasion of 25 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall with u. a. Mikhail Gorbachev and Miklos Nemeth
• 2014 - Visiting the Olympic Games in Sochi with Pussy Riot
• 2014 - Cinema for Peace Symposium in Berlin to avoid a new Cold War (joint event with the New Policy Forum)
• 2015 - Cinema for Peace Real Life Heroes Dinner in Los Angeles in honor of u. a. Amelia Boynton Robinson
• 2016 - Life jacket installation with Ai Weiwei at the Konzerthaus in Berlin
• 2019 - The thanks of German civil society and Federal President for Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow on the occasion of 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
• 2020 - Censored, Ai Weiwei Film Festival in Berlin

Film productions

• 2006 - Not the same procedure as every year - Dinner for All with Bob Geldof and Katja Riemann
• 2007 - Film Suddenly Gina / Breakfast with a stranger (including Iris Berben , Julia Jentsch , Jan Josef Liefers and Catherine Deneuve )
• 2008 - I don't feel like dancing , short film
• 2008 - Letter to Anna , documentary by Eric Bergkraut about the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaja
• 2009 - "This Prison Where I Live", involved in the creation of the documentary about the imprisoned Burmese comedian Zarganar
• 2010 - Tax against poverty - A good idea , German spot for the Robin Hood Tax Campaign based on an idea by Richard Curtis, producer
• 2011 - After the Silence , co-producer
• 2015 - Voices of Srebrenica , director and producer
• Planned: "Gorbachev" with screenwriter Andrew Knight

Awards

• Vaclav Havel presented “Letter to Anna” with the “Audience Award” at the “One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2008” in Prague. The One World Festival in Prague shows through international documentaries what opportunities there are for everyone to stand up for human rights.
• "I don't feel like dancing" received a number of awards, including a. the “Best Short Fiction Film” award at the GoEast Film Festival in April 2008.
• Honored by the "Global Green" organization in February 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/die-sehnsucht-des-star-produzenz/487382.html
2. ↑ http://www.freipresse.de/NACHRICHTEN/KULTUR/Ich-habe-das-Beduerfnis-Missstaende-zu-beoben-artikel7590385.php  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically defective marked. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ http://www.ps-72.com/films/lettertoanna/info.php
4. ^ Wall Museum at berliner-woche.de
5. ↑ deutschlandfunkkultur.de
6. ↑ clintonfoundation.org
7. ↑ BABYLON in Berlin - Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case. Retrieved May 15, 2020 . 
8. ↑ When will the exit come? The new Corona opposition - Gabor Steingart. Retrieved May 15, 2020 (German). 
9. ↑ [1]
10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEf06ZIBUzU&feature=related
11. ↑ http://thesop.org/story/sports/2010/06/11/un-celebrates-the-power-of-sport-for-peace-and-development.php
12. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
13. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
15. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ↑ http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/8EC6E17A-DE3F-4BF7-98DA-37F20FAB4EF2/0/ASP10Journal09Dec11.pdf
17. ^ After the Silence.
18. ↑ imdb.com
19. ↑ Global Green Honor 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2020 . 

Web links

• Cinema for Peace
• Cinema for Peace Foundation
• Star entertainment
• http://www.sportsforpeace.org/
• https://thewallmuseum.com/
• Short article about Jaka Bizilj in the program "Kultur heute" on Deutschlandfunk (08/21/2020)