ROME: Eight filmmakers sought Thursday to hold wealthy nations to account for the UN Millennium Development Goals as their joint project, 8, had its world premiere at the Rome film festival.
The collection of poignant short films dramatizes the Millennium goals one by one, from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to combating AIDS to improving maternal health.
The United Nations initially supported the project, but withdrew its logo over fears that a segment by Indian filmmaker Mira Nair on gender equality might offend Muslims, co-producer Lissandra Haulica told a news conference.
The film is absolutely inoffensive to the faith, Nair said.
Set in Brooklyn, New York, Nair s How Can It Be? tells the story of a Muslim immigrant woman who finds the courage to leave her husband and young son to become the second wife of the man she loves.
The husband repudiates her as only he could according to strict Islamic law, Nair noted, adding: However tricky, however morally ambiguous, … underneath the burka is a complicated, thriving human being.
LMD Productions had agreed with the United Nations to contribute half the film s earnings to programs involving the Millennium goals on the understanding that the filmmakers would have complete artistic freedom, co-producer Marc Oberon told the news conference.
When they were asked to withdraw Nair s segment in April, they refused, he said.
In 8, Third World settings of hardship and disease alternate with scenes from rich nations to underscore either the wealth gap or the universality of goals such as gender equality and environmental sustainability.
US filmmaker Gus Van Sant s segment Mansion on the Hill shows San Francisco teenagers cavorting on skateboards while a voiceover spells out stark comparative statistics: The average American consumes 3,600 calories per day, the average African consumes 698.
Other segments are heart-rending, notably Dutch director Jan Kounen s The Story of Panshin Beka showing a woman s futile struggle to survive childbirth deep in Amazonia.
Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako s Tika s Dream, shot in Ethiopia to dramatize the Millennium goal of eradicating poverty and hunger, treats the issue through the eyes of a young girl whose father is dying of AIDS.
Children have a real awareness because they live it every day, Sissako said.
German director Wim Wenders, assigned the final section dealing with the goal of forming a global partnership for development, focused on the boom in microcredit programs allowing individuals in the West to make small, life-changing loans to Third World entrepreneurs.
I didn t want the film to end on a depressing note, and microcredits are working in a fantastic way, he said.
If countries could act like people, we would not have poverty in the world, and we know corporations especially do not act like people, said Wenders, whose segment is titled Keep Your Promise.
The eight contributors to 8 hope the film will incite as many people as possible to act for us and get their governments to honor their commitments, he said.
My fear right now with the (global) financial crisis is that in the end … it will make some of the nations be ever less willing to come up with what they ve promised, he said, referring to the 189 countries that signed up in 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
I m afraid the bill will be paid by the poorest, Wenders said.
8 was shown out of competition at the third Rome film festival, which kicked off Wednesday and runs until Oct. 31.
Political films among the 20 in competition include Good by British director Vicente Amorim, about the rise of Nazism, Osama director Siddiq Barmak s Opium War set in Afghanistan and mafia film Galantuomini by Edoardo Winspeare of Portugal. -AFP
