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The Publicity Pot is on a full rolling boil as the Dec 8 release of “Blood Diamond” draws near.
The latest developments:
“Blood” stars Leonardo Di Caprio, Djimon Hounsou and director Ed Zwick were in Chicago yesterday taping an episode of “Oprah” that will air either Friday or next Monday.
A rubber Blood Diamond bracelet was handed out last night to guests at Amnesty International’s salon on issues raised by the film, and attended by “Blood” filmmakers Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz and Paula Weinstein.
The red bracelet - sure to be a must-wear at the December 6 Los Angeles premiere - goes on sale tonight ($2) on the NGO’s joint Blood Diamond Action website launched yesterday.
There’s a two-hour “Blood Diamond” documentary on the illicit diamond trade and the civil war in Sierre Leone set to air on Dec. 23 on The History Channel.
Russell Simmons – who has a line of diamond jewelry - has agreed to meet with Amnesty International (and possibly Roy Sesana of the Botswana Bushmen tribe) before he embarks on his fact-finding tour of Africa, funded by the diamond industry.
Hot rapper Nas has recorded music for “Blood Diamond," included on his new album. The song may be on the AI/GW Blood Diamond Action site next week.
“Blood” stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly will tape PSAs tomorrow which will go up on the site next week.
At last night's educational salon held at the CAA offices in Beverly Hills, AIUSA’s Artists for Amnesty director Bonnie Abaunza spoke about the film's importance to the conflict stone and child soldier issues. “The movie represents Sierra Leone's recent history,” says Abaunza. “But the devastating and very real issues it raises still exist in other African countries and beyond.”
Zwick, who had rushed back from the "Oprah" taping, sat in the audience with producers Herskovitz and Paula Weinstein. Usually the one under fire with blood diamond questions, Zwick said afterwards that he relished being able to just listen to the panel of experts: Jimmie Briggs, author of "Innocents Lost- When Child Soldiers Go to War,” Charmain Gooch, executive director of Global Witness, Bill Brummel, producer of the History Channel documentary on the civil war in Sierre Leone and Professor Alyson Warhurst, Chair of Strategy and International Development, Warwick Business School, who has worked with companies- including De Beers - on creating and sustaining social development around the world.
The big question: can "Blood Diamond" really make a difference?
Briggs, who spent six years researching child soldiers and consulted with Zwick, and saw the powerful film a month ago in New York, says “Ed got it right.”
But like many who devote years of their time, energy and emotion to shedding light on human rights issues, he wonders if the film – and the resulting attention on conflict stones and child soldiers - will have enough impact to make a difference or is it just another Hollywood cause du jour.
GW’s Gooch was more hopeful. She was one of the founders of Global Witness, a British-based NGO which began because of concern about the way in which natural resources fund civil wars and rebel conflicts. and she feels things are improving.
“It seems shocking to us now, but eight years ago the diamond industry had convinced everyone that by buying up all the rebel stones, they were doing everyone a favor by keeping the diamond world market price stable. No one stopped to say “Hold on, this is funding the wars and atrocities.”
And that’s where the increased public awareness created by “Blood Diamond” comes in.
“The film has done more to push the industry to move forward on this issue more than it has for years,” Gooch said. “The fact that consumers will see this film and go back to jewelry stores and ask questions about where the stones they are buying come from is fantastic.
Brummel agreed.
“What Global Witness’s focus on the conflict stone issue did was to help affect change. De Beers certainly changed as a result of the increased public awareness. And that's also what my documentary and this feature film can do. As consumers. it’s important for us to know where the products we use and buy come from. And I’m not talking about a boycott. But when we know that something is awry, it’s important to educate ourselves and take action.”
As an anthropologist who works in Sierra Leone I know first-hand the devastation wrought by the war. I have asked people in the country if they have heard any of the uproar surrounding the film and none of them know about its impending release. The movie was not filmed there, nor was any thought given to the fact that Hollywood is turning a brutal war that most Sierra Leoneans want to move on from into fashionable and lucrative entertainment fodder, and not benefitting them at all. Instead of just relying on the public to make 'informed choices' about diamonds and encouraging them to purchase red bracelets and write to their senators, it would be simple human compassion if the filmmakers actually dispersed some of the film's anticipated profits to organizations that work inside Sierra Leone to bring the people out of grinding poverty. This way they are actually promoting positive change in the country rather than simply capitalizing on the people's misery. Perhaps then the country might be able to educate and employ its people instead of forcing them into a life of toil in the diamond fields.
Posted by: Cat | December 06, 2006 at 05:31 AM
It's good to see this topic has caught the attention of the movie industry. The movie really gives those of us who have been working on bringing awareness to the issue a vehicle to alert the general public and especially the hip-hop public about the effects of their holiday purchases on us Africans. Bling is Dead!
Posted by: Annansi | November 18, 2006 at 10:38 AM
As a follow-up, you might consider developing an article around the new diamond-mining industry in Northern Canada where Native Americans have been learning the art of diamond cutting and processing, to the benefit of Indian communities.
Posted by: SHW | November 17, 2006 at 09:51 AM