GEORGE CLOONEY - CLOONEY PREMIERES PERSONAL DARFUR FILM

GEORGE CLOONEY premiered his hard-hitting documentary about life in war-torn Sudan in Washington, DC on Wednesday (10JAN07) and shared with political guests his fears that the genocide there would get worse before it gets better. The film star and his politician father NICK visited Darfur and Chad last summer (06) to capture video footage of the hell in refugee camps there. The Clooneys interviewed victims of the Janjaweed Arab militia, who have raped and pillaged the area, and returned with the resolve to do what they could to heighten awareness of the dire situation to Americans. And now previously-unseen footage the father and son team collected in Africa appears on a new documentary, A JOURNEY TO DARFUR, which will be aired on the AmericanLife TV network on Monday (15JAN07). In a satellite interview after the screening on Wednesday, the actor told guests he felt the Darfur situation was the first genocide of the 21st century. He said, "I will remember forever how the people there were hanging from such a thin thread and there were so many ways for them to die and yet they were optimistic." Clooney later revealed that he, himself, was "pessimistic" the situation in Darfur could get better fast