Conversation with ... Romuald Sciora: 'The Price of Peace'; A unique way to present the history of the United Nations.

Directed by French filmmaker Romuald Sciora, "The Price of Peace" is an ambitious two-part project on the past and future of the United Nations. "Mister Secretary-General ..." is a television series on the history of the United Nations, as told by UN secretaries-general, featuring current Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his predecessors--Kurt Waldheim, Javier Perez de Cuellar and Boutros Boutros-Ghali--as well as Sir Brian Urquhart, who speaks about his experience working for the first three deceased secretaries-general: Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarskjold and U Thant. The series will debut in Geneva and then in New York on 29 November 2005 on the occasion of the United Nations sixtieth anniversary. The second part, On the Blue Road, is a feature-length documentary film structured as a journey through the various institutions of the UN system and will explore how the United Nations deals with the critical issues facing the world today. It is aimed for theatrical release in 2006.

Mr. Sciora, who is also a playwright, began his work with an acclaimed series of documentary films titled Chronicles from a Barbaric Era. His latest feature-length film, The Ashes of the Phoenix, was inspired by the work of Father Mansour Labaky, who devoted his life to helping underprivileged children in Lebanon and through his writings sought to teach peace and tolerance.

Horst Rutsch of the UN Chronicle spoke with Mr. Sciora on 6 June 2005.

On the structure of the project

The first part is a televised series, a collection of films on the history of the United Nations as told by its former secretaries-general. This is the first project of its kind. Former UN Under-Secretary-General Sir Brian Urquhart hosts the first episode, which discusses the first three secretaries-general: Trygve Lie, Dag Hammarsjkold and U Thant. The second part deals with Kurt Waldheim; the third, Perez de Cuellar; the fourth, Boutros Boutros-Ghali; and the final one will focus on Secretary-General Kofi Annan. All episodes will be of the same length--about 30 minutes--due to television broadcasting constraints. However, each segment was the result of approximately ten hours of filming; obviously, there is plenty of material.

We are working in close partnership with the United Nations, using rare archived images that will complement the testimonies of speakers. We were able to have several preparatory meetings with the Secretaries-General and also to film for extended sessions. This allowed the project to go beyond...