UN 'civilization' forum announces 100-million-dollar film fund

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

MADRID (AFP) — Representatives of some 60 countries wind up a UN forum Wednesday after announcing initiatives to bridge cultural divides, including a 100-million-dollar fund to finance major film productions that combat "ugly stereotypes."

The Alliance of Civilizations Forum aims to "contribute to isolating extremist and intolerant discourses on the part of those who try to utilise religion or culture for political purposes," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in his inaugural speech Tuesday.

Zapatero first proposed the initiative at the UN General Assembly in September 2004, six months after the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people, and three years after the September 11 attacks in the United States that claimed nearly 3,000 lives....