Don Cheadle brought the history of the genocide that occurred in Rwanda to its highest awareness thanks to his Oscar nominated performance in MGM's Hotel Rwanda. Recently, he and several others attempted to make history by lobbying the US government to declare the horrors occurring in Sudan an official genocide – making it the first time the US has done so while the violence was occurring. Cheadle and director Ted Braun have brought this struggle to audiences with the new documentary, Darfur Now. The doc chronicles Cheadle's group's fight to the highest levels of government as well and documents the actual violence occurring in Sudan’s western desert.
While awareness of Darfur continues to grow, actions from the US to stop the violence have been noticeably thin, while some in the entertainment industry even continue to support corporations and countries that provide the means for Sudan to continue the killing - especially China (who, along with the US, purchases of Sudan’s oil helps finance the genocide) and the upcoming summer Olympics in 2008. In fact, Spielberg was attached as an entertainment consultant for the Beijing Olympics until Mia Farrow called him out in the NY Times and he withdrew. With Cheadle behind the film, and the usual Hollywood tendency towards liberal issues, this film has a chance to break out and do some decent box office for a documentary and hopefully raise outrage over the genocide in the public. Darfur Now premiered at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival and will receive a theatrical release in early November, just in time for Thanksgiving. (Nouvelle Vague/BOP)
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