A filmmaker turns up the volume on peacemaking work
“Peace is not resting. Peace is loud.”
Activist and philanthropist Abigail Disney has made several documentary films, including Pray the Devil Back to Hell, about the critical role played by Leymah Gbowee and other women activists in resolving the civil war in Liberia in the early 2000s. Disney won an Emmy in 2017 for The Armor of Light, which follows Rob Schenck, a pro-life activist, and Lucy McBath, a mother who lost her son to gun violence, as together they challenge Florida’s “stand your ground” gun laws. Disney, who is related to film producer Walt Disney, founded Peace Is Loud to develop media and events that foster a “culture of peace.”
How did you become a filmmaker?
I came to filmmaking through community activism. I noticed over and over again that it was women who looked around, saw something that needed to be done, and stepped in with courage and tenacity. I met a woman who was working with women in conflict zones around the world, and she invited me to go to Liberia, which had been through years of brutal civil war. The stories I heard from women in Liberia were so horrible and cruel and sadistic that I sometimes had to lie down; I couldn’t handle it.
