The Art of Peace is a documentary film in production, directed by RoseMarie FitzSimons, that centres on women's leadership in political peacemaking. At its heart is the extraordinary relationship between Monica McWilliams — one of the principal architects of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland — and Hind Kabawat, a pioneering Syrian peacemaker and diplomat who is currently the only woman serving in Syria's transitional government. Over more than five years of filming, the documentary has followed these two women across two of the most complex and consequential peace processes of our time, exploring how their relationship sustains and shapes their work.

Manas has been working alongside RoseMarie during the production to help her embed a trauma-informed and healing-centred framework into every dimension of her filmmaking practice. Documentaries that give voice to women who have lived through, and actively transformed, mass political violence carry particular responsibilities — to the participants, to the stories being told, and to the audiences who will receive them. Our collaboration has been woven into the production from its earliest stages, evolving as the documentary itself has grown in scope.

We have been working on:

• Developing a trauma-informed framework for how engagement and interviews are being facilitated with the women participants .
• Advising on the safety and ethical dimensions of engagement — including the particular vulnerabilities and risks associated with the participants' role
• Supporting thinking on participant wellbeing before, during, and after filming — how the women are held in the process
• Accompanying the director in reflecting on the editorial and creative process through a trauma-sensitive lens

We are committed to continuing to explore how healing-centred principles can inform creative practice as a powerful form of bearing witness to the aftermath of mass violence and conflict.

Find out more about our ethos.

Credit visuals: RoseMarie FitzSimons "The Art of Peace"