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MUMBAI: The United Nations audiovisual family will offer
‘green’ stories and projects to major international
broadcasters as they join MIPTV (Marché international
des programmes de television), the leading international television
programming market.
The event kicks off in in Cannes, France today and runs till
20 April 2007.
The United Nations Department of Public Information and seven
UN agencies including United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will
meet with broadcasters to offer productions from their audiovisual
catalogue and invite them to co-produce programmes and develop
new formats.
Through it series UN in Action, UN Television provides
short documentaries on environmental subjects, including stories
on the future of the Aral Sea, the prevention of natural disasters
in Kazakhstan and cleaning up radioactive waste in Serbia.
21st Century, the newly launched 26-minute monthly magazine,
combines narrative storytelling and solid reporting from around
the world, and is adaptable into any language. The United
Nations Department of Public Information also provides unique
stories from field missions through its UNifeed satellite
transmission distributed via APTN’s Global Video Wire.
Among the United Nations system’s many new green projects
to be featured is So You Think You Know About...Climate
Change. This is a documentary series produced by UNEP
and the UK based back2back productions in association with
BBC World. Each of the six half hour instalments focuses on
untold international stories and issues and combines film,
animation and graphics.
Bling: A Planet Rock is a 90-minute documentary produced
by VH1, Article 19 Films and UNDP. The film, featuring hip-hop
artists from the US and Sierra Leone, raises its voice on
behalf of the millions of diamond diggers to help disadvantaged
communities and promote conscious consumerism, encouraging
the purchase of ‘clean’ diamonds through the power
and influence of hip-hop music.
The Unesco Audiovisual e-platform, boasting more than 500
productions from 85 countries, connects independent filmmakers
and producers and broadcasters, festival organisers and other
interested institutions. Unesco’s latest production,
Documenting Reality, focussses on how ’reality’
is created by the camera and why and how certain ’truths’
are legitimised. Unesco’s series of podcasts, currently
being produced in 10 different countries, focuses on human
rights.
Other programmes from the United Nations team include UNDP’s
Beyond the Horizon. This is a documentary series on
cultural differences set in the Sudan. UNFPA’s Fight
for Life documentary series is about maternal health in
six developing countries. The four-part Nurses on the Front
Line documentary series is about health workers in Bolivia,
Mozambique, Zambia and Indonesia.
Wake Up World is a documentary by Vanessa Redgrave
and Carlo Nero and takes a very personal look at the history
of Unicef. The World Bank’s Buying Time for Peace
is a documentary about ex-combatants, both adults and children,
reclaiming their lives after conflict.
The United Nations audiovisual family at MIPTV also seeks
co-production partners on various projects. These include
One World Manga. It is an animated series from the
World Bank about the adventures of an orphan who learns about
global issues, and The Mushroom Roundabout Gang (working title),
a story of the struggles of a group of young people living
in the streets of Mexico City.
The UN Millennium Campaign seeks media partners to develop
programmes in conjunction with their global Stand Up Against
Poverty challenge. UNEP’s Billion Tree Campaign seeks
media partners to join the project which aims to plant a minimum
of one billion trees around the world in 2007.
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