PDA

View Full Version : Jude Law makes Afghan peace visit



OMEN
07-21-2007, 09:08 AM
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44008000/jpg/_44008647_jude203.jpg
Law and Gilley travelled to the east of Afghanistan (All pics: Unicef)
Oscar-nominated film star Jude Law is in war-torn Afghanistan to promote the UN's annual Peace Day on 21 September.

Accompanied by British filmmaker Jeremy Gilley, he travelled to hostile areas in the east of the country to film ordinary people for a documentary.

Mr Law told the BBC: "Across the board we have met with incredible positive response. My overall impression of this country is one of great hope."

The UN voted unanimously to adopt Peace Day in 2001 after a campaign by Gilley.

His 1999 documentary, Peace One Day, was used to lobby the United Nations General Assembly.

Gilley has since travelled to nearly 50 countries including Somalia and Sudan and enlisted the help of key players including the Dalai Lama and former UN chief, Kofi Annan.

'Life-saving activities'

Gilley and Law spent last week in Afghanistan filming a second documentary about Peace Day.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44008000/jpg/_44008646_noorani203.jpg
Jude Law interviewed children and community leaders
They visited the capital, Kabul, as well as the troubled eastern provinces of Laghman and Nangarhar. The trip was kept secret for security reasons.

Gilley told the BBC that he hoped Peace Day this year would be marked with "life-saving activities", such as vaccinations, aid deliveries and pauses in battle zones.

He said: "If we want to move from a culture of war to a culture of peace, then every single one of us is going to have to make a commitment to that process."

Law - an ambassador for Peace Day - told the BBC he believed the peace message would be especially strong if it came from Afghanistan.

"Wouldn't it be a wonderful international message to come from a country which is perceived as a country purely of conflict, that this message of peace can sing out of it?" he asked.

The documentary is expected to be premiered in Afghanistan next year before being distributed globally.

BBC