Note to Correspondents

Secretary-General, Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas to Open

Event Featuring ‘Countdown to Zero’ Documentary

An event featuring a special screening of a documentary film entitled Countdown to Zero will be held at United Nations Headquarters on 5 May from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Conference Room 4 ( Temporary North Lawn Building).  The initiative is jointly sponsored by Global Zero and the United Nations Secretariat, within the context of the 2010 NPT [Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons] Review Conference.

Prior to the screening, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will deliver introductory remarks, with a number of dignitaries in attendance.  United Nations Messenger of Peace and renowned Hollywood actor Michael Douglas, Academy Award-winning producer Lawrence Bender, and Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll will also deliver remarks at the event.  The film screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

Countdown to Zero is a stunning documentary about the escalating global nuclear arms situation that recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was just selected for the Cannes Film Festival.  Produced by Academy Award winner Lawrence Bender (An Inconvenient Truth, Inglourious Basterds) and written and directed by Lucy Walker (The Devil’s Playground, Blind Sight), the documentary features an array of prominent international experts and statesmen, including former United States President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Ploughshares Fund’s Joe Cirincione, Stanford political scientist Scott Sagan and former CIA Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

Countdown to Zero traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident, and makes a case for worldwide nuclear disarmament. It makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament.

For media accreditation, please contact the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit of the Department of Public Information at tel.:  212 963 6934, e-mail:  malu@un.org, website:  http://www.un.org/media/accreditation/index.htm.

For further information on the event, please contact Nathan Glatkowski, Global Zero, tel.:  202 797 5565, mobile:  202 459 8929, e-mail:  nglatkowski@globalzero.org.

For media specific inquiries, please contact Trevor Fitzgibbon, Global Zero, mobile:  202 406 0646, e-mail:  trevor@fitzgibbonmedia.com.

To attend the screening, please RSVP to rsvp@globalzero.org.

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For information media • not an official record