OPENING CEREMONY | 21 SEPT 2025
The International Peace Festival is more than just an event - it's a cultural phenomenon. The IPF 2025 stands as a powerful force for unity and peace, offering an alternative path. It celebrates the beauty of diversity and promotes peace through understanding.
Unforgettable experiences await with the IPF's Opening Ceremony celebrating the UN International Day of Peace being held on 21 Sept 2025, beginning at 12pm at the Toronto City Hall. Entry to the Welcoming Ceremony is Free.
THE INTERNATIONAL PEACE FESTIVAL | FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE LA PAIX (IPF-FIP)
returns to Toronto in September 21-27 2025 — 7 days of diverse and innovative perspectives on peace as promoted through the arts, music, and international and Canadian cinema, special events featuring some of the biggest names in film, music, painting, sculpture and photography and IPF’s Industry Expo, offering IPF’s partners, sponsors and endorsers the opportunity to showcase their products, services and communicate their key message to festival goers.
A Destination For Peace
Set in Toronto, the IPF-FIP coincides with World International Day of Peace and connects an international audience of artists, musicians, filmmakers, filmgoers, art and music lovers, peace activists, human rights and civil rights advocates, educators, diplomats, environmentalists, financiers, distributors, and youth organizers with a rising focus on the next generation of peace champions. Toronto, rated the most multicultural city in the world, attracts an international audience, and is in close proximity to the USA border with easy access to airports, trains and public transportation.
International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix
The International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix (IPF | FIP) celebrates UN – International Day of Peace, every September 21st and is committed to innovative perspectives on peace as promoted through the arts. IPF-FIP’s year round screening, panels and events help to cultivate a burgeoning peace-building international community committed to the role and value of art and culture in peace and reconciliation processes. The IPF-FIP profiles a variety of events including film premieres and screenings, musical performances, art exhibitions, educational panels, high-level networking, social gatherings, and culminates with the Peace Ambassadors Gala & Grand Ball and the International Peace Festival Awards Show.
Humanity Reimagined
The mission of the International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix (IPF | FIP) is to encourage attendees to think broadly about the role and value of art and culture in peace and reconciliation processes and to think deeply about the universal concerns and actions needed to bring us into balance. IPF | FIP’s Global Peace Ambassadors (GPA) and Cultural Peace Exchange (CPC) Programs serve as inroads to understanding interlinks between art, culture, conflict and peace.
Peace is the Answer
IPF | FIP is a civic and social organization created with the goal of promoting peace through the arts. The organization is headquartered in Canada and is active in many countries around the world. Its mission is to inspire, motivate and engage people to solve conflicts without resorting to any form of violence. Through education, awareness and the arts, we measure the impact of our programs and we have a specific focus on youth as we believe in the power of young people as changemakers.
IPA | AIP PEACE MERIT AWARDS 2025
IPA | AIP LEADERSHIP AWARDS
September 21 - 27 | Festival Schedule
Art Exhibition & Reception
Toronto City Hall
21 Sept 2025
Special Events
Peace Ambassadors Awards Gala &
Grand Ball
The Peace Ambassadors Awards Gala & Grand Ball is a formal white-tie event featuring a lively cocktail reception where guests can mingle, network, and enjoy a delicious selection of appetizers and drinks to be followed by a 3-course dinner, live entertainment throughout the evening, dance & afterparty including late night refreshments.
Peace Awards Gala Ceremony
IPA I AIP Peace Awards 2025: A Starry Night of Celebrating Creative Powerhouses! Lights, camera, Cultural brilliance! The 2025 International Peace Alliance Peace Merit, Leadership and Screen Awards will light up Toronto’s King Edward Hotel at the Peace Ambassadors Awards Gala and Grand Ball on September 26th with a dazzling celebration of excellence in the arts, music, film and cultural diplomacy. Hosted by the International Peace Alliance, the gala will be a vibrant mix of red-carpet glamour, heartfelt tributes, and acclamations, all broadcast live.
2025 EVENTS | IPF | FIP
projects include the annual FILM FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL (FPI), MUSIC FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL (MPI), ART FOR PEACE INTERNATIONAL (API), PEACE AMBASSADORS PROGRAM, and the CULTURAL & INDUSTRY EXPO, all of which are scheduled for Sept 21-27, 2025. We are planning on hosting in-person events as well as offering some online components.
Art For Peace International
The foremost task of contemporary society is to discern how to live responsibly before neighbor and earth, within and in response to the context of the planetary emergency. While this discernment requires empirical analysis and practical judgments, it is also a labor of the utopian imagination, the work of conceiving a new world and new ways of living in relation to the world. In short, the mission of the IPF | FIP is to produce a new way of seeing by means of creative works so that persons and communities may return to the world and more fully take up the work of healing and repair in hope and love.
Film For Peace International
Film for Peace International (FPI) is here to support the creative searches of filmmakers in addressing people's rights to peace, especially with a focus on the right to water, disarmament, women and children's rights, the right to a healthy environment and the right to healthcare. Entrants are judged on their ability to effectively communicate, through the medium of film, potential solutions to achieving sustainable peace as a community. Ten films, each of which will originate from a world region mostly aligned with the continent on which the country of film origin is located, will be selected to be showcased at the International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix on September 21-27, 2025.
Film for Peace International (FPI) showcases independent film – long, short, narrative and documentary – and animated film and introduces a unique and diverse content, focused on essential stories of bravery, resilience, peace and reconciliation. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives to enlighten audiences, educate, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers, and present inspired entertainment for the sole purpose of global peace. IPF-FIP draws the best films focused on the development of world peace from the international community, with the participation of 289 Consulates and Cultural Institutes. Driven by excellence, the festival showcases hidden gem and award-winning films to the great delight of Canadian and international audiences.
Music for Peace International
Music for Peace International is dedicated to music diplomacy as a particular form of cultural diplomacy. The Music for Peace International program brings together experiences and reflections across cultural, racial, social, class and national divides. As a universal language that breaks down language barriers and cultural differences, music promotes cooperation, understanding and mutual respect among peoples, communities and nations, and thus contributes to a culture of peace.
World City
Music Director : CommanderCdR Don MAESTRO
Music is an extremely powerful and unifying language. As a universal medium, it speaks to everyone across all borders and overcomes linguistic barriers. Music builds bridges that connect people from different parts of the globe and fosters common appreciation of cultural diversity. It is a great tool for spreading the message of peace, tolerance and shared humanity, and for promoting cultural diplomacy. The Music for Peace International program speaks to the challenge of singing a New World into being.
Cat Stevens - Peace Train
International Peace Festival Theme Song 2025 Official Selection
PROGRAM ACCESSIBILITY 
Sign-language interpretation, program guides, assistive listening devices, and other guest facilitation are all available upon request. Please contact us to inform us of your needs.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT  
The International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix acknowledges that we are on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. IPF | FIP also acknowledges that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands.
MAJOR PARTNERS
MAJOR SPONSORS
MAJOR SUPPORTERS
