UN food relief agency partners with Hunger Games film

The United Nations food relief agency announced today its partnership with the producers of the upcoming film The Hunger Games, based on the best-selling science fiction novels, to raise awareness about hunger around the world.

A video starring the film’s cast, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, was launched by the World Food Programme (WFP) and film studio Lionsgate urging fans to help end hunger. The video can be found on a website created for the cause where users can test and expand their knowledge on global hunger and can make contributions to help fight it.

“This partnership will help us spread the word that hunger is the world’s greatest solvable problem,” said Nancy Roman, WFP Director of Communications, adding that millions of readers identified with the characters in The Hunger Games trilogy, and are excited about the upcoming movie, which will be released next month.

The first novel in the series, written by Suzanne Collins, was released in 2008 and has since been translated into 26 languages, selling over 800,000 copies.

“We want to tap into that excitement,” Ms. Roman said. “If all of us did just one small thing to fight hunger we could end hunger around the world. We are deeply grateful for the support of Suzanne Collins, who writes as though she understands hunger in the world, as well as Lionsgate and The Hunger Games cast – who have the power to change lives as they feed people worldwide,” she added.

According to WFP, hunger affects one in seven people – almost one billion men, women and children around the world.