Global cultural diplomacy organization Liberatum has corralled a number of high-profile Hollywood stars to join its new digital initiative dubbed Lifesaving Conversations.
The conversation series will tackle topics such as racial justice, forced displacement and mental health by bringing international leaders, artists, pioneers, change makers and icons together for wide-ranging discussions. Lifesaving Conversations launches in August with Sharon Stone in conversation with Dr. Heval Kelli, a Syrian who fled his war-torn homeland and is now one of the first Kurdish American cardiologists in the history of the United States.
Stone will address activism and her previous experiences in giving back, including the time she helped put in clean water wells in Africa. “I carried clean water bottles to children that were drinking filthy water. And help the little toddlers. And they don’t even know what it is. They don’t even know what they’re having because they have never even seen [clean water]. When they put it in their mouth they don’t know what they’re having. You know what that means. That we do this to people and that we allow this to occur — it’s devastating.”
Participants in upcoming conversations include Zoe Saldana, Michael Douglas, actor and producer Anil Kapoor, actor and filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, actor Jeremy Pope, rapper Chika, renowned photojournalist Steve McCurry, singer-songwriter Daniela Mercury, actress Rossy de Palma, actor Cauã Reymond, singer-songwriter Ludmilla, music icon Pabllo Vittar, and multi-hyphenate Lee Daniels. Others names will be announced shortly.
Liberatum will host the conversations online and during the events, viewers will have an opportunity to donate in support of food banks, in the country where the personality is from, or the refugee cause globally, with 100 percent of funds raised going directly to the nonprofit organizations. Philanthropic partners on Lifesaving Conversations include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Feeding America, and World Central Kitchen in the United States, The Trussell Trust in the United Kingdom, GiveIndia in India, FoodForward in South Africa, Ação da Cidadania, Amigos do Bem and Gerando Falcões in Brazil and FESBAL in Spain. The series will officially support UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to reach the increasing number of displaced people and refugees.
Liberatum’s long list of previous honorees, collaborators and guests includes Alice Walker, Will Smith, Nicole Kidman, Cher, Gore Vidal, Zaha Hadid, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Pelé, Hilary Swank, Vivienne Westwood, Tilda Swinton, Tracey Emin, M.I.A, Frank Gehry, David Hockney, Nan Goldin, Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Laureate Sir VS Naipaul, Naomi Campbell, Francis Ford Coppola, and Pharrell Williams.
More information about the initiative can be found here.
