Bright Leaf Pictures presents
The Quiet Diplomat
A feature documentary about the
8th UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon
Directed by Charles Lyons
In over 20 festivals and counting
Swedish International Film Festival
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Berlin Kiez Film Festival
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UN International Film Festival
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Eastern Europe Film Festival
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Paradise Film Festival
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Stockholm City Film Festival
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Five Continents International Film Festival
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Documentaries Without Borders
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Crownwood Film Festival
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International Celebration of Cinema
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Tulum World Environmental Film Festival
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Athens International Monthly Arts Film Festival
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South Film & Arts
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Indo Dubai International Film Festival
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Doc Only
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Miami Beach Film Festival
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Miami Beach Film Festival
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Swedish International Film Festival • Berlin Kiez Film Festival • UN International Film Festival • Eastern Europe Film Festival • Paradise Film Festival • Stockholm City Film Festival • Five Continents International Film Festival • Documentaries Without Borders • Crownwood Film Festival • International Celebration of Cinema • Tulum World Environmental Film Festival • Athens International Monthly Arts Film Festival • South Film & Arts • Indo Dubai International Film Festival • Doc Only • Miami Beach Film Festival • Miami Beach Film Festival •
The Quiet Diplomat centers on former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The UN saved his life during the Korea War, inspiring him to become a man of peace.
During two terms (10 years) as the 8th Secretary General, Ban discovers the challenges of international diplomacy in an increasingly splintered world.
Why now? Globally, war and authoritarianism are on the rise.
In this film, we see how Ban’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ is a reassertion of the importance of multilateralism, represented by the UN, at a time when collaboration between countries is key for our survival as a species.
PRODUCERS
Susan Lee MacDonald
and Charles Lyons
SENIOR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Chaim Litewski
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
James Yoon, Michael B. Kim, and Jaka Bizilj
EDITOR
Tamiris Lourenco
COMPOSERS
Flavia Tygel, Marion Lemonnier, and Woody Pak
Tamiris Lourenco, Susan Lee MacDonald, and Chaim Litewski
We honored the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter with a special screening at the site where it was signed.
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco on June 24, 2025
The screening was followed by a Q&A with the director and producers of The Quiet Diplomat.
Presented as part of the Charter Day celebration and sponsored by UNA-San Francisco, UNA-Mid Peninsula, Bright Leaf Pictures, Veterans for Peace, and Urban Angels, this event honors the legacy of global diplomacy. Reserve your seat and be part of a memorable evening.
Our film benefits from hours of UN footage, much of it never publicly seen.
As well as footage shot by news organizations during a tumultuous decade while Ban led the UN.
Chief among our goals is to use this trove, and fresh interviews, to reveal a man many people don’t know at all, or think they know.
While our approach is not combative, we do not shy from controversy, asking tough questions about what the UN can and should do to handle increasingly difficult global crises, including new wars, while giving Ban the opportunity to assess his accomplishments and failures during his ten years at the UN.
Interviews Include
Ban Ki-Moon, 8th Secretary General of the UN Yoo Soon-Taek, his wife
Juan Manual Santos, former President of Colombia
Mark Malloch Brown, President, Open Society Foundations
Beatrice Lindstrom, Senior Clinical Instructor, Harvard Law School
Richard Haass, President Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations
Rajon Menon, Spitzer Professor of International Relations, Emeritus, City College of New York
Jean Krasno, Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, CCNY/ Columbia University
Lina Khatib, Director, SOAS Middle East Institute
Richard Gowan, UN Director, International Crisis Group
The Quiet Diplomat Trailer
Now available on Virgin Atlantic Flights
Stream The Quiet Diplomat
This documentary is intimate, evocative, empathetic, and emotional–– about a man who not only achieved change in the world, but also followed his passions, charting a bold, original path in the face of criticism.
But we see this film as much broader than the transformational arc of a single man’s life: Ban was born one year earlier than the UN; his life is a time capsule of a period in history marked by a brutal clash between multinational and unilateralist approaches to governing. The film also probes the value of an institution that grew out of the ashes of World War II, when there was one world order, to what it is today, when that world order has changed.
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Ban Ki-moon
“Not a single country or person, however powerful, resourceful one may be, one cannot do it alone. We must join all our hands on the deck together.
Otherwise, we will be neglecting our duty, living in this century, to make sure that our succeeding generations will be able to live in peace and harmony.”
