EN ROUTE TO BAGHDAD
Simone Duarte, Ane Soanes, Kristine Candeso
(Brazil/Cambodia/East Timor/Mozambique/North Korea/Iraq/USA)
56'
|
Description:
In June 2003 Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, Kofi
Annan's special envoy to Iraq, delivered a message of hope to
a country shattered by war˜an end to occupation and promises
of humanitarian aid, reconstruction, refugee return, economic development
and legal and judicial reform. Unfortunately, Sergio‚s
work in Iraq would be left unfinished. On August 19th, 2003 a bomb
exploded just outside the UN headquarters in Baghdad. In total 22
people were killed, among them, Sergio Vieira de Mello. While the
film is a tribute to the life and work of Vieira de Mello, it also
explores issues that impact the ability of UN humanitarian initiatives
to move forward. The death of Sergio Vieira de Mello in Baghdad is
a tragic metaphor for the effort to bring stability to Iraq. The only
hope left may be to learn from Vieira de Mello‚s unparalleled
career, one which was spent uniting people under the most challenging
of circumstances.
Biography:
Before going solo, Simone Duarte was the News Bureau Chief of Brazilian
TV Globo‚s desk in New York for three and a half years. She
has produced, written and directed features for TV Globo, the major
Brazilian network for more than a decade and, in New York, Simone
coordinated the coverage of the 9/11 attacks. For this work she was
nominated for the Emmy International Award. Her first documentary,
Archivo de la Identidad, about the children of the "disappeared"
during the dictatorship in Argentina, has been featured in human rights
festivals around the world, including the Amnesty International Film
Festival in Los Angeles. She also worked for the United Nations in
East Timor during the early days of Sergio Vieira de Mello‚s
administration. As a news correspondent, Simone won Honorable Mention
from the UN Association of Correspondents for the feature series she
did on East Timor in 2001.
Contact Information:
Simone Duarte, Director
Duarte Productions LLC
1760 Second Avenue, 5D
New York NY 10128
E-mail: duarteproductions@nyc.rr.com
URL: http://home.nyc.rr.com/sergiodemellodoc |