| Don Cheadle Answers a Call to Action with "Darfur Now" |
| Written by Brad Balfour | ||||
Page 1 of 2  "Darfur Now" a doc on sudan starring Don Cheadle and George Clooney  Ahmed Mohammed Abakar gives his feedback on the crisis in Sudan in "Darfur Now"  Don Cheadle at the "Reign Over Me" World Premiere held at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts These six portraits include that of a UCLA graduate in Los Angeles, California; a Darfurian woman who joins rebel forces; the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague; a United Nations humanitarian on the ground in Sudan; an internationally known actor and activist who become involved with the struggle; and of a community leader in a West Darfur refugee camp. The struggles and achievements of this sextet—Don Cheadle, Hejewa Adam, Pablo Recalde, Ahmed Mohammed Abakar, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and Adam Sterling—bring to light the situation in Darfur and their various ways to respond and help allay this crisis. And this isn't first time that 40-something Cheadle has applied his passions to his art; with "Hotel Rwanda" the Oscar-nominated actor addressed the genocide that took place in that country a decade ago. Though Cheadle is only a part-time activist, he has poured a lot of himself into the issue of Darfur, not only by being a producer on this film but in having formed Not On Our Watch (with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Jerry Weintraub) and co-written a book, "Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond," about the crisis with author/activist John Prendergast. Both Cheadle and Sterling, the director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force (a project of the Genocide Intervention Network) discussed the making of this special film, one they believe can not only inform but effect change. participate.net/darfurnowQ: There are six different stories told In the film—were you guided in telling your story or were you allowed to express what you felt? DC: There was no guiding. We tried to make sure that we made a documentary, not some sort of narrative that was instructive in any way, shape, or form. The control of the content was more [determined by] what we covered and where we sent the cameras rather than what we did once they were there. It was amazing to see how it unfolded. All those events happened to happen during that time. Things just happened to show up when you show it. It's a lot different from MTV documentaries, which are definitely guided and written. This one just kind of happened. in my story line, Adam was happening before we started any filming so things occurred when they did. Q: Was there danger involved throughout the filming? DC: Absolutely. There's a great moment in the movie where Recalde is driving, and they pan the camera over to the soldiers. We were surprised that they allowed a crew in there, knowing what was happening, knowing what our perspective was. We kept calling Ted and saying, "They know what you're doing, right? There's full disclosure, right?" And he said, "Yes, I keep telling them this is what we're making a movie about." And they kept saying, good keep coming. AS: I wanted guidance but they wouldn't give it to me. This was all new to me. I remember the first couple of days when I first met Ted [Braun], I was in Southern California, waiting tables, working five days a week, and then on Mondays and Tuesdays I would fly up to Sacramento to go lobby. And I was just telling Ted, you should go meet this person and this person, and was telling him my story. In the meantime, he called me one day and he said, "Hey, we're going to film you a little bit and see how it goes." I said, "Ok but I'm going to work tomorrow." And he said "I'll call you." I felt awkward, because I had never done that. And I was asking questions and they said "No, you can't ask questions, be normal [laughs]." And so I learned quickly that there was not going to be any guidance, but just free rein. Q: Did you give any pointers to anyone like Adam about being on camera? DC: Yeah... cover for me. Make me look good [laughs]. No, no, I didn't. In real life, if you try to look good on camera, you look like an idiot. At least with the script, you have some sort of cover, you're trying to play somebody else. But trying to play you, with some polish, you're going to look like an idiot. We tried to just be, and really allow to come through who we were and what we were trying to do. None of us are extraordinary people and that's the whole point of this film--that we're not extraordinary people. We are people who are just moved by something and have become passionate about something which we think is the greatest humanitarian crisis on the face of the earth today. And in that effort, we are hoping that the result will be extraordinary. But I don't think that any of us looked at ourselves and thought we were special. Q: You've become so knowledgeable and an expert by your passion and drive. Do you look back and say: "God, how do I know all this shit?" DC: Definitely. I always tell people, when they ask, I say I was pulled into a stream that was already flowing. It was already moving, and Adam pulled me in. And John Prendergast pulled me in. And Congressman Ed Royce (R-CA) pulled me in. These were people that were already trying to do things in this effort, and I said well, give my light to to the sum of light and try to make it happen. Because I, too, think that that's what we need to be doing. Q: How do we make this issue real to the people of this nation--in such a way that they can take the same path and not have it become a trendy political issue? We've seen that happen to Katrina and the Tsunami victims. AS: I think getting involved and being creative in your involvement and getting back, as opposed to just making a donation and never seeing that money again. There are so many ways to get involved creatively. We are a testament to that. So I think really finding a creative way to get involved, joining with others in your community--[that's what's important]. We've got a great network, The Genocide Intervention Network, where you get your own site and you get connected with community members. You're not just doing it by yourself, giving money to some trendy cause, you're actually involved in getting things back. And that's what made the difference to me. There's a lot of work in activism, and [then there's the word] "burn-out." There's just so much to keep us busy. Countless people wanting to listen to you speak, to ask "What can I do?" I think there is so much to do that if you really put yourself into that, then you won't burn out. DC: I think America as a country has actually done a lot more than a lot of other nations have done about awareness, advocacy, and trying to push their leaders forward. We're trying to get that to happen on a international level. The Genocide Intervention Network just recently opened an office in London, to deal with it on a European level, get it into a global scale. We're just trying to "Move and shake," and just "move and shake" within the positions we can move from. Hopefully doors will open if we continue to push it. |