San Francisco Black Film Festival 2008

Traveling across four continents over three years with cameras and a mobile recording studio, Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls embarked on a search for musical inspiration. What they discovered on their journey was the power music has to connect the world together. Chronicled in the feature-length documentary, Playing for change: Peace Through Music, is a journey that starts in the city streets of America and Europe and heads to South African townships and the Himalayan Mountains. The film co-directed by Mark Johnson and Jonathan Walls and produced by Joe Carnahan, features spontaneous live musical performances and interviews with a wide variety of musicians, including Manu Chao, Grammy Award winner Keb' Mo', and South African musician and activist, Vusi Mahlasela. Throughout the film, musicians from different locations that have never met each other join together to re-create songs such as 'One Love' and 'Stand by Me,' further demonstrating the power of music to connect and inspire people around the world.