Meet Greg Barker director of SERGIO, an official selection in the Documentary Competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
SERGIO
DIRECTOR: Greg Barker
U.S.A., 2008, 94 min., color
Based on the biography Chasing the Flame by Samantha Power, Sergio is the story of the United Nation’s go-to guy. A cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy, Sergio Vieira de Mello could descend into the most dangerous places, charm the worst war criminals, and somehow protect the lives of the ordinary people to whom he’d devoted his life. After a string of doomed relationships, he was about to settle down finally with the woman he loved. And then came the call: another crisis, and Sergio was the only man for the job. Persuaded by Kofi Anaan, Condoleezza Rice, and Tony Blair, Sergio reluctantly took up his post as U.N. ambassador to Iraq.
On August 19, 2003, a bomb struck the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, marking a watershed moment in history. For the first time, the U.N. had become the target of terrorism. The news shocked the world.
With visceral immediacy, filmmaker Greg Barker recreates the events of a day that will forever live in infamy. Harrowing testimony from Sergio’s fiancée and the military paramedics who risked their own lives to save him is interlaced with haunting footage shot on the day of the bombing and reenactments of the rescue attempt. Devastatingly powerful, Sergio paints a portrait of a man who gambled with his own life to restore dignity to the lives of others.
—DAVID COURIER
ExP: Samantha Power, Sheila Nevins, Nick Fraser Pr: John Battsek, Julie Goldman Ed: Karen Schmeer
January 28th, 2009 - 12:47 am
[...] actors Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt US Documentary Editing Award Karen Schmeer, SERGIO Watch the Sundance Channel interview with Greg Barker, director of SERGIO, here. World Cinema Documentary Editing Award Janus Billeskov Jansen and Thomas Papapetros, [...]
August 19th, 2009 - 7:26 pm
I am anxious to see this movie. In my twenties, I lived with my aunt who worked for the Brazilian Foreign service. I believe I had the privilege of meeting Sergio de Mello in my youth (probably in Cairo in the early seventies).
The movie sounds fascinating, actually, whether I met Sergio or not. That is just a personal aside.
Please tell me how, where, when I might be able to see the film Sergio.