A couple of months ago I participated in a Q&A with Amy Kaufman one of the producers of The Whistleblower. I asked her if the people at the UN had seen the film and her reply was that she didn’t think that they would be so into it because the film takes a harsh stand on the peacekeepers who trafficked women.

But the good news is that there is a new regime at the UN, and there is a new much larger agency for women and it is run by the former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet and having a former world leaders sure gives the new agency UN Women a lot more gravitas than it had in the past.

Today’s NY Times had a piece about how the UN which at first was going to try and play down the film

A leaked memo from the United Nations human rights office in New York reflected the divisions over openness. In a lengthy discussion about how to address “The Whistleblower,” Kiyotaka Akasaka, the head of public information, and Patricia O’Brien, the top lawyer, argued for playing down the movie and certainly not screening it at the United Nations headquarters, the memo said.

But Bachelet convinced the UN to use the opportunity to educated people about these issues because as the Times reports, these issues are still happening. Now a screening at the UN is scheduled for next month. Good for her.

This is a great example about how a film can help create change. And you too can help make change by seeing The Whistleblower when is plays in your neighborhood. Here’s the link to where it is playing.

Peacekeepers’ Sex Scandals Linger, On Screen and Off (NY Times)