A summer is the perfect moment to pause and watch a film that reminds us why international arbitration matters.

As the days grow longer and the pace of work settles into a quieter rhythm, we invite you to dedicate 47 minutes to a story that is as relevant today as when it was first told. The Quiet Triumph – How Arbitration Changed the World, the documentary produced by the SCC to mark its centennial in 2017, is available in full on YouTube and if you have not yet had the chance to watch it, there is no better time than now.

The story behind the film

When the SCC celebrated its 100th anniversary, it did so with a question at its heart: how do you convey, to the world beyond our profession, the profound and largely untold impact that international arbitration has had on global affairs?

The answer was a documentary. Commissioned by the SCC and directed by Swedish filmmaker Martin Borgs, The Quiet Triumph had its premiere on 19 January 2017 at Stockholm’s Rigoletto theatre, before an audience of nearly 700 guests from across the international arbitration community. The evening was followed by a symposium the next day, exploring the close relationship between arbitration and peace, a theme that runs through every frame of the film.

What the film is about

At its core, The Quiet Triumph tells a story most people never hear. International arbitration has, for centuries, provided states and commercial parties alike with a mechanism for resolving disputes without resorting to force. It has enabled trade to flourish, protected investments, and, crucially, helped prevent conflicts that might otherwise have cost lives.

The film brings this story to life through the voices of those who were there. It features interviews with central figures who shaped international arbitration from the inside: among them Stephen M. Schwebel, former President of the International Court of Justice; Ulf Franke, former Chairman and Secretary General of the SCC; David W. Rivkin, then President of the International Bar Association; and Nina Lagergren, wife of the legendary Swedish arbitrator Gunnar Lagergren, whose work resolving some of the 20th century’s most sensitive disputes is woven through the film’s narrative.

As Alexander Komarov reflects in the film: “The world is a small village. And that’s why we have to be helpful to each other.” It is a sentiment that captures, simply and elegantly, what arbitration at its best represents.

Why it still matters

Produced nearly a decade ago, The Quiet Triumph has not aged. If anything, it has grown more pertinent. At a time when the rule of law faces pressures on multiple fronts, when the mechanisms of peaceful dispute resolution are tested by geopolitical complexity, the film’s message carries renewed urgency.

As the previous SCC’s Secretary General Kristin Campbell-Wilson has noted, the documentary offers “47 minutes of hope, courage and conviction.” We believe she is right.

The SCC’s founding principle, that disputes are better resolved through rules than through power, is not merely an institutional motto. It is a conviction that has shaped the international order, often quietly, often without recognition, for more than a century.

Watch the film

The Quiet Triumph – How Arbitration Changed the World is available to watch in full, free of charge, on YouTube. We encourage you to share it with colleagues, clients, and anyone who has ever asked you to explain, in plain terms, why international arbitration exists and why it matters.