Biggest world stars may stand in support of You Are Not Alone campaign working for the release of the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor in Libya, emerged after Hollywood producers Richard Harding and Sam Feuer surprisingly arrived in Bulgaria. They will make a film about the medics in Libya and intend to engage the cinema elite in it. When Hollywood speaks, everybody listens, Richard was laconic. Their Sixth Sense Productions is a new company but has quickly gained a place among the big in the branch after the phenomenal success of their Hotel Rwanda.
Now Sam and Richard are seriously setting to the project of a film about the Bulgarian nurses. Today they are flying for the film festival in Cannes where they will popularize their idea about the film.
We have the chance to promote this story and thus help the release of the death-sentenced Bulgarian nurses. We know they are national icons and heroes in your country. We believe this is a real tragedy and an instance of cruel injustice, they said
I hear from you that Gaddafi has such problems. This hardly changes matters, though.We are conscientious people and we will make the movie about the five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor. For the last few nights we have had little sleep and worked hard to set the production going. We are honoured that the medics gave us the opportunity to join in the cause. We side with You Are Not Alone campaign that is spreading all over Europe. Through this movie the world should learn this tragic case. It is a very complicated issue and has a multitude of aspects.
Richard: We will hide nothing. We will tell everything. We will be guided by the truth only.
- Will you shoot in Libya, will you talk to some of the people there? Richard: We would like to see both sides of the story. We have talked to Dr Zdravko Georgiev and lawyer Osman Byzanti. We are in constant contact with them and talk on the phone almost every day. We have contacts in Bulgaria's Embassy in Libya. The only way we can make this movie is through the nurses and the doctor.
- How did you learn about their story and why has this stirred your interest? Sam: I first read about the nurses in an Israeli newspaper. This happened when they were sentenced to death for the second time. Their story astounded me and touched my heart deeply. I am a producer and a storyteller. I called Richard in Hollywood at once. It took us a long time to find information sources and get prepared for the film production.
Richard: We will film this story because it touches the hearts of the people. The nurses' story moved us a lot. The previous film we made was Hotel Rwanda. Now we are making a film about Sudan.
Sam: Everybody in Hollywood can make films but we want ours to be the most explicit. And we to help the nurses with this movie. We are joining the international You Are Not Alone campaign.
- Is Hollywood interested in plots like this?Richard: The Americans are cordial and sensitive people and a dramatic story like this never leaves them indifferent. We don't want to simply make a film, but to change the nurses' fate.
- Do you think that it could exert a real political pressure on Libya?Richard: Yes! A Hollywood movie is the pressure itself; when Hollywood is speaking all the others are listening. We'll gather people who have worked in charity campaigns; and we'll go to the Congress, to the Senate, we'll lobby before the President... People who dedicate themselves to such noble causes are George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie - they are megastars. But I wouldn't like to mention concrete names. I believe that they will join the You Are Not Alone campaign and when this is a fact, I'll call to inform the Bulgarians about this. Positive propaganda will greatly contribute to the nurses' cause. The US celebrities like making gestures to common people, because it's them who they owe their popularity to.
- Is the You Are Not Alone campaign helping the realization of the film?Sam: Yes, incredibly. During our present visit to Bulgaria we see the You Are Not Alone symbol on many buildings, posters and people's lapels. The campaign has left traces in every sphere of people's life. In Los Angeles there was a rally and all the drivers wore You Are Not Alone ribbons. We want to express our gratitude to the nurses themselves and to Dr. Georgiev, who put his trust in us.
- Have you met with the nurses' relatives?Sam: Yes, we've met with some of them, but we'll meet the rest of them, too. We are aiming at bringing the nurses home and creating a film about their fate which would make the Bulgarian people proud of the nurses.
- Do you think that the film will have a happy end?- We are sure that it will have a happy end.
Georgy P. Dimitrov
