“Joyeux Noël,” a film depicting the Christmas Truce during World War I in 1914, will be shown from noon to 2:30 p.m. Nov. 14 in the Miller Nichols Learning Center, Room 451.

Please register for the event here.

On a freezing Christmas Day in 1914, thousands of exhausted soldiers cautiously climbed out their trenches on the 500-mile long Western Front and entered no man’s land. They buried their dead, shook hands with their enemies, sang carols together, lit each other’s cigarettes, exchanged addresses, swapped family photos and played football.

This unofficial “Christmas truce” only lasted for a few hours and then the first world war resumed — one that would leave 31 million people dead, wounded or missing before fighting ended in November 1918.

Following the film, there will be a panel discussion of the film and the actual events that took place during the Christmas Truce, by a musicologist, historian, and film scholar.

Panel discussion members will include: Andrew Granade, Ph.D., chair of composition,music theory, and musicology and associate professor of musicology;  Lynda Payne, Ph.D., RN, FLS, School of Medicine, Sirridge Office of Medical Humanities and Bioethics and professor of history; and Tom Poe, Ph.D., associate professor, department of communication studies.

For more information, contact Tom Burns or or call 816-235-1875.

The sponsors are the UMKC Departments of History, Communication Studies, Conservatory of Music and Dance and UMKC Libraries.