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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 |
©2005 United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)