Film on plight of world's poorest opens in Rome, EU

The movie, touching on themes such as the fight against poverty and hunger, child mortality, the environment and education, is made of eight segments by eight directors, including Jane Campion and Wim Wenders, who were in Rome to present the project.

"This movie is directed to people, audiences will see it, some of them will engage themselves," Wenders told reporters after a press screening of the movie. "A lot of people who will see the film will understand the urgency of the Millennium Goals but the solution is only with governments, because they have to act as they promised."

Wenders' segment on the need for partnership for development includes footage of anti-G-8 protesters and explores the coverage decisions of a TV channel reporting on efforts to reach the U.N. Goals.

Other stories — filmed by directors Mira Nair, Abderrahmane Sissako, Gus Van Sant, Gaspar Noe, Jan Kounen and Gael Garcia Bernal — include the life of an African man who has AIDS, the struggle of a pregnant woman in the Amazon rain forest who cannot afford to travel to a hospital and a devastating drought in Australia.

The U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals were adopted by world leaders in 2000 to cut poverty and disease and improve health care and education for the world's poor by 2015.

But halfway through the deadline, not all countries have met those goals.

The film is screening out of competition at the festival's third edition, which runs through Oct. 31.

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