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Hollywood stars lend support to humanitarian campaigns
DPA

Berlin, Feb 16 (DPA) Renowned Hollywood celebrities are throwing their weight behind humanitarian campaigns around the world through the Cinema for Peace charity gala in Berlin this week. 

"The world today is in such a terrible mess, and the children are suffering so much that anyone who can help by talking about it should do so," said veteran actor Christopher Lee, who has appeared in more than 200 films including the recent "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Celebrities have a duty to speak up in the face of mistreatment of children around the world, said the 83-year-old actor.

"If you are well-known to the public, I think it's an obligation," he told a press conference for the Cinema for Peace charity gala in Berlin this week.

Lee is a leading supporter of the UN's children's charity UNICEF, one of the main beneficiaries of the Cinema for Peace charity gala. Other benefactors of this year's event are the American Foundation for AIDS Research and Hollywood actor Richard Gere's charity Healing the Divide.

The Cinema for Peace initiative was founded in 2002 by Jaka Bizilj and takes place every year during the Berlin Film Festival.

"We are very, very proud of what has happened in the past five years," Bizilj said. 

He related a "very interesting conversation" he just had with actor-director George Clooney, whose film "Good Night, And Good Luck" will be shown as part of this year's gala.

"George told me that three years ago when he was in Cinema for Peace, he was called a traitor in America," Bizilj explained. "He actually decided to make 'Good Night, And Good Luck' because he felt the situation was similar to (Senator Joe) McCarthy chasing communists in America in the '50s."

The film chronicles the conflict between journalist Edward R. Murrow and McCarthy, the notorious communist-hunter who led abusive congressional investigations.

Michael Caton-Jones, the Scottish director of Hollywood films "Rob Roy" and "Basic Instinct 2", is another supporter of Cinema for Peace.

"I'm not a saint, that's for sure," he said. "I'm not even a humanitarian. I'm simply a human being who's lucky enough to make films."

Caton-Jones' film "Shooting Dogs" was also presented in Berlin in a special screening as part of the Cinema for Peace programme.

The film stars British actors John Hurt and Hugh Dancy as a Roman Catholic priest and an English teacher who get caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

"The reason I wanted to make this film was I got a little angry about the fact that I was ignorant of what happened in Rwanda," Caton-Jones explained. "It was a way of working out my own dissatisfaction with what is done in my name around the world."

Another Cinema for Peace supporter is up and coming American actress Kristanna Loken, who starred in the 2003 film, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines".

She said she "jumped at the opportunity" to be part of the initiative.

"I think as an artist you evoke feeling and change and through that you send a message," Loken said.



Indo-Asian News Service