\nThe United Nations General Assembly adopted Peace Day in 2001, following a lobbying campaign by Gilley which he documented in the film \u201cPeace One Day.\u201d
\n\u201cWhen I left Kabul last year, I was hugely moved not by the conflict that I have read so much about, but by the people\u2019s courage and the people\u2019s sense of hope,\u201d Law told reporters in Kabul on Monday. \u201cIt seemed that they really want to make this day, the Peace Day, work. And they did,\u201d Law said. \u201cPeople recognize the day, because they recognize that lives could be saved.\u201d
\nNoted for his roles in movies such as \u201cThe Talented Mr. Ripley\u201d and \u201cCold Mountain,\u201d Law helped Gilley produce his second documentary film, called \u201cThe Day After Peace.\u201d
\nThe documentary, which also features former U.N. chief Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Angelina Jolie, Annie Lennox and Jonny Lee Miller, charts the way Peace Day can be used as a focus for lifesaving activity, Gilley said.
\nLaw said the movie \u201cwas the most important film I have been part of.\u201d
\nLaw and Gilley, who arrived in Kabul on Sunday, are to meet President Hamid Karzai, top NATO and U.N. officials, and members of the aid community.
\nLast year, they traveled and filmed in treacherous areas of eastern Afghanistan to help promote the day, on which they hope weapons will fall silent, allowing help to reach those most in need.
\nGilley said in Afghanistan over 1.4 million children were able to be vaccinated against polio on Peace Day as a result.
\n\u201cThe world celebrates so many days that often separate and segregate us … and yet there is none that ties us all together,\u201d Law said. He said ordinary Afghans, who marched and prayed as they marked Peace Day last year, are among the film\u2019s stars.
\n\u201cIt is Peace Day\u2019s commitment to take this film as a message from people of Afghanistan to the rest of the world,\u201d he said.
\nThe visit coincides with one of Afghanistan\u2019s most violent periods since the ouster of the Taliban from power in 2001. More than 3,700 people – mostly militants – have died as a result of the war this year.
\nLaw said that even as Kabul has become more dangerous, hope among its people has remained surprisingly high.
\nIf \u201cit is possible here, it is possible everywhere,\u201d Gilley said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"