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What is UNITED?
UNITED is an emotionally charged human rights music video unlike any other. Its production included a 45,000-mile world tour covering four continents and 13 countries. Two thousand volunteers, including 150 actors, contributed their time to this global endeavor.
Director Taron Lexton was 19 years old when he created UNITED with a crew that consisted mostly of teenagers and pre-teens, making it truly a youth project.
The film depicts an inner-city kid with a heart for basketball (played by 11-year-old Andre Boydon) who is confronted by a gang of bullies and their leader (Eric Forte), and has to fight for his right to play. What makes UNITED a great human rights video is how Andre�s character accomplishes this, without violence.
The film includes cameo performances by Isaac Hayes (Soul Legend ), Erika Christensen (Traffic, Upside of Anger), Jenna Elfman (Dharma and Greg, Keeping the Faith), Catherine Bell (JAG) and Lynsey Bartilson (Grounded for Life).
UNITED came about after Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) asked Taron, in early 2004, to create a new theme song and music video for YHRI. Taron and TXL Films produced the video with the help of YHRI and the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International. It was first shown inside the United Nations headquarters in New York in August 2004, where it earned praise from the Deputy Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as �a huge step forward for human rights education.�
UNITED is now available with subtitles in 15 languages and has aired in dozens of countries around the globe.
The Worldwide Popularity of UNITED
In the short time since it�s release, in late 2004, UNITED has already been seen by an estimated 38 million people.
It has been officially selected by twenty film festivals around the world and has won four awards: The �Spirit of Moondance� Award at the Moondance Festival in Colorado, �Best Human Rights Film� at the Taglio Corto Human Rights Film Festival in Florence (which is co-organized by UNESCO); �Honorary Youth Film Maker� and �Best Family Film, Short� awards from the Big Bear Film Festival in California; and the prestigious Grand Jury award for Best Short Film at the New York Independent Film Festival in New York.
In the few last weeks, UNITED has been selected for airing in the California Independent Film Festival, the Ojai (city in California) Film Festival, the New York International Independent Film Festival � Los Angeles (this festival is held in four different U.S. cities through the year) and a national festival in Iran.
The film has also gained recognitions from civic leaders including the Governor of California and the Mayor of Los Angeles.
On September 11, 2005, UNITED was screened at the LA ARClight theater at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, the largest short film festival in the world. It met with thunderous applause.
A 30 second trailer for UNITED also began airing on September 1 every 30 minutes on 400 house TV screen in 74 Cineplex Odeon cinemas throughout Canada, including in Quebec where it airs in French.
UNITED has aired on Zee News, one of the two largest national TV stations in India, and national station E-TV in South Africa. Venuvision, the major TV station in Venezuela, wants to do an entire television series based on UNITED and YHRI. In fact, UNITED has aired in the United States, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and the Ukraine.
The video is also used by police, youth leaders and community organizations across the planet to bring peace to troubled areas � while being shown locally from discos in Spain to electronic and TV stores in Hungary and Russia.
New UNITED booklet and Human Rights Education Manual:
Due to the popularity of UNITED, a new UNITED Special Edition of �What are Human Rights?� has been produced in 21 languages and is now in broad distribution. The booklet is part of a UNITED Human Rights Education Manual that will shortly be available for teachers and mentors.
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