A new 30-minute film – Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times – sets out the action needed to build a better world, as COVID-19 threatens decade of global progress
Saturday 19 September
09:00 ET / 13:00 GMT (30 minutes)
www.youtube.com/unitednations
The United Nations, Project Everyone and 72 Films today announce the upcoming release of “Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times,” a first of its kind film to be broadcast globally, premiering on the UN YouTube channel on 19 September at 09:00 ET / 13:00 GMT.
“Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” sets out what must be done to tackle the world’s biggest issues, from COVID to poverty, inequality, gender discrimination, climate change, justice and human rights. The broadcast will also mark the UN’s 75th anniversary, as well as the 5th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Amidst a global crisis, “Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” will take audiences on a dynamic exploration of the times we live in, the multiple tipping points our planet faces, and the interventions that could transform our world over the next ten years. The film is produced by 72 Films and writer, director and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate Richard Curtis.It features:
- Leading activists such as education advocate and UN Messenger of Peace, Malala Yousafzai
- UN Goodwill Ambassadors Don Cheadle (UNEP) and Michelle Yeoh (UNDP)
- Sustainable Development Goals Advocate and UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace, Forest Whitaker, and actor and women’s rights activist Thandie Newton OBE
- Professor of Educational Technology, Sugata Mitra
- An exclusive performance from Grammy nominated singer Burna Boy, and a new version of a previous UN performance by multi-Grammy award winning artist, Beyoncé
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed
- Julia Roberts will host a radio broadcast and podcast version of the show, in addition.
In the midst of a pandemic radically transforming our world, “Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” is set apart from other stories in its focus on facts and solutions, recognizing the need for specific evidence-based action which will create real change. From debt relief, to cutting fossil fuel subsidies, to universal access to healthcare, quality education and digital financial empowerment – the broadcast will present the decisive and immediate action needed to build a better world.
“Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” will be broadcast on YouTube, as well as global broadcast channels and radio stations on 19 September – 09:00 ET / 13:00 GMT: www.youtube.com/unitednations
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Notes to Editors
Promotional assets can be downloaded here
Media inquiries should be directed to goals2020@freuds.com or nathalie.delorme@un.org
Hashtags – #NationsUnited #GlobalGoals
Handles – @UN @TheGlobalGoals
“Nations United: Urgent Solutions for Urgent Times” is produced by 72 Films, an award-winning production company which creates innovative, ambitious projects that aim to inspire, entertain and make a positive contribution to the cultural landscape. The company has had previous commissions from the BBC, Netflix and National Geographic, and recently produced “The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty.”
About Project Everyone
Project Everyone was co-founded by writer, director, and SDG Advocate Richard Curtis, Kate Garvey and Gail Gallie with the ambition to help achieve the Global Goals through raising awareness, holding leaders accountable, and driving action. Find out more at www.project-everyone.org.
About 72 Films
72 Films is an award-winning production company which produces ground-breaking, powerful, sensitively-handled and thought-provoking content.
Their projects have been nominated for Grierson, Royal Television Society, Broadcast and BAFTA Awards and have won three RTS Awards.
72 Films was founded by David Glover and Mark Raphael who met when they were commissioning editors at Channel 4. They are widely acknowledged as some of the most original programme-makers in British television.
Together they have built a reputation as one of the UK’s leading creative forces, being named as one of Realscreen’s Global 100 production companies of 2019 and nominated for best independent production company at the Broadcast Awards in 2020
About the Sustainable Development Goals
On 25 September 2015, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, 193 world leaders committed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (or Global Goals). These are a series of ambitious objectives and targets to end extreme poverty and hunger, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change, by 2030.
