Look To The Stars News: Gael Garcia Bernal

Scarlett Johansson And Annie Lennox Sign Oxfam's Climate Letter

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Nineteen actors, musicians and activists signed a letter drafted by international aid agency Oxfam to tackle the issue of climate change in December.

The letter was written to world leaders who attended the UN climate negotiations in Poland and urged them to lead the way and show the political will demonstrated in the face of economic crisis so that dangerous climate change can be averted.

Scarlett Johansson, broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo, Colin Firth, Missy Higgins, Kristin Davis, Thom Yorke, Annie Lennox, Ian McEwan, Jarvis Cocker, Bill Nighy and Gael Garcia Bernal were among the stars to put their signatures to the letter.

“It is desperately unfair that the poor should again feel the brunt, despite being least responsible,” read the letter. “Wealthy nations, who are in their advantaged position because of heavy industrialization, are the most responsible and able to lead the world in tackling climate change. This is why they must show leadership in Poland and provide solutions that have the interests of the world’s poor at their heart.”

Oxfam says climate change is already affecting the lives of millions of poor people around the world and threatening progress made in pulling people from poverty, and progress must be made to stop global warming from exceeding 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The full letter can be read here.

Annie Lennox Talks Amnesty To Filmmaker

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Singer Annie Lennox has been collaborating with Mexican filmmaker Gael Garcia Bernal on a new film for Amnesty International.

Bernal – who is best known for his performance as Che Guevara in The Motorcycle Diaries – is currently working on the film, titled Resist, to be released in 2009. He spent an afternoon with Lennox late last week, researching background information.

“I spent a little bit of time with Gael Garcia Bernal in collaboration with Amnesty International,” said Lennox on her blog. "He is making a documentary film, and wanted to ask me some questions on film. He is really switched on… and looking for ways to contribute to “positive change” in the world. In this we have a shared passion and interest."

Bernal’s Resist project is a quest for people whose actions are shifting perspectives on the world, a search for people who are inspiring new ways of thinking, acting and being, who are instigating change from below.

“Social Justice is not something that is just delivered or produced,” he said about the film. I want to make a film that really explores resistance – not casting people as victims, but rather that shows that ‘it is better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees’. For millions of people worldwide the system will not change in their lifetime, yet they do not concede defeat. Real people at the risk of being alienated, hurt and killed, still fight back. To me, resistance is the human spirit expressing itself at its most creative, at its most instinctive."

More information about Resist can be found at the film’s website.

Mexican Stars Launch Venture For Social Justice

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 20:40:48 -0000

Written by Steve Purcell

Mexican actors Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna have launched a production company that will focus on documentaries addressing social justice issues.

The co-stars of the acclaimed 2001 movie Y tu mamá también held a $300-a-plate gala dinner in Mexico City on August 11 to announce the venture, and to benefit two charities:
Mexico’s Commission for the Defence and Promotion of Human Rights and Witness, an organization founded by singer Peter Gabriel that promotes the use of video and film to document human rights abuses.

“Documentaries show us the injustices in the country where we live, that this problem exists,” Garcia Bernal said before the dinner. “We can’t escape it.”

The new company, Canana, will fund documentaries highlighting failures of the Mexican judicial system, including the unsolved murders of more than 300 women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas.

“Each day it’s harder to live in this country and in this city and turn a blind eye to the poverty and injustice,” said Luna.

Both actors have publicly supported Mexico City’s recent legalisation of gay civil unions, and Garcia Bernal has openly labelled as “absurd” the proposed border fence between Mexico and the United States.

Johansson, Mirren, Firth and Hounsou Join Oxfam's Global Ambassador Team

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:44:22 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Oxfam launched their Global Ambassador programme this week, and Scarlett Johansson was the latest celebrity to join. Oxfam International, founded in 1995, is a league of 13 organizations working with thousands of partners in over one hundred countries, aiming to find long-term solutions to economic and social injustice.

Ms Johansson recently accompanied Oxfam on a trip to India and Sri Lanka to meet young Dalit girls in a rural school, women campaigning against domestic violence and humanitarian workers. She said, “Once you’ve met amazing people like the Dalit girls I met on my trip you just can’t turn your back. I was shocked by a lot of what I saw, but seeing the fantastic work Oxfam was doing I also felt that there was hope.”

Other Ambassadors in Oxfam’s programme include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Colin Firth, Dame Helen Mirren, Minnie Driver, Gael Garcia Bernal and Annie Lennox.

“I’m in this fight for the long term,” says Lennox. “The outcomes of the G8 this year are a disappointment and we must not allow politicians and governments to get away with breaking promises around health and education, which are essential for developing nations.”

Supporting Oxfam’s maxim ‘we work with poor people, we influence powerful people, we join hands with all people’ actor Gael Garcia Bernal says, “We have to help small-scale farmers to have a voice and then – together with millions of others – exert huge pressure on decision makers to change the trade rules.”

Actor Djimon Hounsou says, “As an African, born and raised in Benin, where cotton is the main source of income for farmers, it is important for me to join forces with Oxfam, an organization that works to fight against the unfair trade laws that keep farmers poor and unable to provide for their families. Subsidies in developed countries are killing the chances of hardworking farmers in Africa of earning a decent wage. It is an honor to
be able to represent Africa and Oxfam when I’m meeting with the powerful politicians that create these laws.”

Oxfam’s International Artist Liaison Manager, Claire Lewis, says of the new Global Ambassador programme, “Our Ambassadors are listened to across the world, and their support helps to give a voice to people who would not otherwise be heard. Through their work, Oxfam’s campaigning messages can reach a much wider audience and have a huge impact on decision makers. We are delighted to have so many credible and passionate Ambassadors from across the globe.”

The name “Oxfam” comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain in 1942 during World War II. Today, Oxfam International is involved in development programs, emergency work, research and lobbying, and campaigning to raise awareness.

Look To The Stars News: Gael Garcia Bernal

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