The M.Y.R.A. Initiative, Inc. promotes the powerful medium of film as a tool to decrease violence. Throughout the world, young people’s perspective is very much a product of the audiovisual entertainment they turn to on a daily basis. Six decades of television and film have dramatically and positively altered attitudes towards race, gender and sexual orientation. Conversely, the same media routinely portray violence as an acceptable means of dealing with others, with terrible consequences to the perceptions of young people throughout the world. Our goal is to push back against that tendency. We hope, over time, to achieve incremental societal change by changing young people’s attitudes toward violence. Our work consists of three areas: an EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND aiding children in crisis, an INVESTMENT FUND supporting nonviolent film projects and, in due course, a TRAVELING FILM FESTIVAL showcasing nonviolent cinema.