Ben Affleck’s short film for UNHCR’s “Gimme Shelter” - a humanitarian campaign for victims of the fighting in eastern Congo (30sec.)

Actor-director Ben Affleck and Sir Mick Jagger have launched a short film for UNHCR’s new “Gimme Shelter” campaign to help raise funds and awareness about the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the work of the UN refugee agency.

In November, Affleck visited Africa to shoot footage in DRC’s strife-torn North Kivu province, where tens of thousands have fled their homes since fighting resumed in August. He also visited Uganda, where some 30,000 people have sought refuge and are receiving help from UNHCR. The result is a short film entitled “Gimme Shelter,” set to the classic Rolling Stones song of the same name.

UNHCR hopes the “Gimme Shelter” campaign will help raise US$23 million in 2009 to pay for clean water supplies and emergency humanitarian assistance kits in the region.

The film - “Gimme Shelter” - was directed by Affleck and filmed by John Toll, both Academy Award winners. The footage was shot in the strife-torn North Kivu region of the DRC in November, where thousands have fled their homes since fighting resumed in August. The film is set to the Rolling Stones’ song Gimme Shelter, which Jagger and the group donated to the campaign.


For more information about the Gimme Shelter campaign go to www.unhcr.org