There was a screening of “Unexpected PEACE” film by YPLAG, MCC and others at the Joint Secretariat in Surakarta on Saturday, 13 September 2025. Asia (the City of Surakarta) of all continents (America, Europe, and Africa) became the first to screen the film.
“Unexpected PEACE” was a new documentary produced by Dove Tale Productions, with Michael Hostetler as film director, and Jonathan Bornman and Michael Hostetler as writers, as well as Eyas Salam as editor. The film told a story about communities building peace. The scene started with Jonathan Bornman, his mother and other family members talked about how their ancestors taught the way of peace. Their interaction went further to nature, with his mother’s fondness to see birds flying, signifying strong image of peace.
The film played for 95 minutes, and continued with a story about radical forgiveness by victims’ families after Amish School shooting in Amish community, Nickel Mines (Pennsylvania) on 2 October 2006. Members of Amish community entertained the family of the male shooter who shot five girls; a number of family members even went to attend the funeral. The film then featured images of news coverage. The shooting at Amish School occured on 2 October 2006, when a man armed with a rifle took hostages and killed five girls aged between 7 to 13 years old, and the killer then committed a suicide at West Nickel Mines School, an Amish School building which consisted of one room at Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the United States.
The first part of Unexpected PEACE featured Jonathan’s interview with the ex-wife of Charlie Roberts, the armed man. He said how members of Amish community entertained the family on the day. The ex-wife said that her father asked her to hide in the kitchen. She saw family members hugged parents, and they attended the husband funeral. The film then went on a flash back, and mentioned the many journalists covering the story and then chose news that illustrated the ethics of peace, and supported what Amish community did. There were 300 journalists came to cover the story.
Roberts’ex-wife explained the chronology of the tragedy in 2006, that on the morning of the murder, her husband took the children to the school bus stop as usual. The interview also happened at the cemetary complex, and the ex-wife showed her baby child who died, many years before the tragic incident happened and after the baby’s death, Robert became angry and had a sense of lost. A number of statements became key to understading the Amish way of keeping peace, such as: "Spiritual journey and at the same time a counselling ", “Have pity on your enemy, and do good to people who hate you. Bless people who curse at you, and pray for those who did evil to you.”, and “I will not be a slave of hatred.”
The second story presented a Muridiyah Muslim community living in Senegal, West Africa. As cited from a web, Jonathan Bornman first met Muridiyah Muslim in Senegal, where he and his wife, Carol, worked for ten years, for a partnership between Friends of the Wolof (FOW), African Inter-Mennonite Mission, and Mennonite Board of Missions (the precursor to Mennonite Mission Network). Although a number of Muridiyah Muslims joined the Bible Study Group and the newly-formed Church Fllowship where Bornman was involved, he was not aware about the Sufi Order’s commitment to anti-violence. “Baay Faal (a Muridiyah sub-group) wore colourful patchwork garment. They aggressively preached, begged, danced, and beat their drum on the street. They had a negative reputation in the missionary community, who failed to understand them or to understand their place in the broader Muridiyah community,” said Bornman.
Two decades later, Muridiyah, the Sufi community in Harlem, New York, became the second story of the three communities featured in the "Unexpected Peace" film, who Jonathan Bornman direct with other co-director D. Michael Hostetler, the first film director in Nazareth Village, and cinematographer Ehab Assal. The production took more than four years.
Jonathan Bornman made use of the shift in his view of Muridiyah community as untouchable "Other", and his acknowledgement of the peaceful worldview of the group was similar to that of his Mennonite community in establishing the theme of his film – building peace amongst different groups necessitated acknowledgement of similarities. Syaich Amadeu Bamba became a central figure in the Muridiyah community.
The third film was about Solo. The background to the main story of the documentary was Solo (Surakarta), Indonesia, here conflict between Muslims and Christians happened at the turn of the century, leading to thousands of deaths. The May 1998 Tragedy caused the deaths of 500 people, and there were many cases of rape and deaths of the victims. Then there was conflict in Ambon, as told by Hizbullah, a fighter group in Surakarta who sent its ‘army’ to wage war in Ambon. In 2002, amidst the chaos, Paulus Hartono, a Christian priest, and Yanni Rusmanto, a Muslim militia leader (Hizbullah), met and agreed on peace. Paulus’s visit to Yanni Rusmanto’s house was not welcomed at first. The host was reluctant to open the door for him, because for Yanni then, people who were non-Muslim were infidels. But Paulus kept trying, until Yanni opened the door of his heart and his house for Paulus. The narrative appeared during discussion of the film, where Paulus Hartono and Yanni Rusmanto sat together in front of an audience of hundreds of people. “The key is, when they ask me whether I want tea of coffee,maka saya pilih kopi, with boiling water. Why so? Because the coffee is hot, so I have at least an hour to talk,” said Paulus. Meetings after meetings happened, and Paulus also got to know Yanni Rusmanto’s people who then went on joint disaster training.
The Tsunami occurred in Banda Aceh and the areas around it (Indonesia) in 2004. More than 225,000 people died, and many people survived but lost their homes and were in mourn. Paulus Hartono and Yanni Rusmanto gathered resources to respond to the crisis. This experience showed that their two communities – a Christian community and a Muslim militia community – joined forces as peaceful neighbours, cutting the cycle of violence in Surakarta and defied the anti-Christian prejudice and deep-rooted anti-Christian sentiment that had thrived in Surakarta as the “short fuse.”
An academic at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Dr. Achmad Munjid was also interviewed by Jonathan. Interview also proceeded with the figure in inter-religion harmony - Sumartono Hadinoto, Helmi, Hj.Nurjanah Hilal, and Reverend Retno Ratih Suryaning who gave statements that when moderates and radicals met, they would bring results.
The third story opened with a discussion between Reverend Paulus Hartono and his mother, Lo Mien, at her shop. It showed how Paulus was born outside of Surakarta then moved to Surakarta City. On every Muslim Eid el Fitr celebration, retailers came by, and Lo Mien gave them presents.
A number of scenes in the film were showing true humanism, such as when Yanni was talking with Aunt Ida, who came from Jakarta. They went to the market and cooked together, making macaroni soup. Aunt Ida was the younger sister of Yanni parent and she treated him like her own son. In a number of scenes, she showed her affection in a number of dialogue pieces.
In the discussion session, the opening speech by the chair of YPLAG – Reverend Bambang Mulyanto started with a thank you message to MCC Thailand, and MCC Indonesia based in Salatiga.(Ast)
