Please join us for this film screening and discussion
hosted by the United Nations Association of New York
The Quiet Diplomat
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with
Charles Lyons
Director and Producer
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Thursday | 24 September 2026 | 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Admission
UNA Members: $10
Non-Members: $15
New Plaza Cinema @Macaulay Honors College
35 West 67 Street
New York, NY 10023
6:00 p.m. | Film Screening
7:00 p.m. | Q+A
Screening begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. followed by a Q+A discussion
NOTE: the New Plaza Cinema is located inside Macaulay Honors College. Theater policy for attendees: there is no food/beverage, other than water, allowed in the screening room.
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Registration for this event to come
THE QUIET DIPLOMAT is a revealing portrait of Ban Ki-moon’s personal journey and his global impact as former United Nations Secretary-General.
After the UN helped him and his family during the Korean War, Ban Ki-moon was inspired to become a man of peace. During his two terms as Secretary-General, he discovered the challenges of international diplomacy in an increasingly splintered world while finding his stride as a champion of women’s rights, LGBTQ lives, and climate change.
Director Charles Lyons spent years bringing that story to the screen as a cinematic work that has won awards at many film festivals, including the Cinema for Peace Award in Berlin.
While Lyons was making short films for the UN during Ban Ki-Moon’s tenure at the UN, he “was struck by the remarkable arc of his life — from displaced person helped by the UN during the Korean War, to head of the organisation that had given his life such needed support as a child. Mr. Ban is one year older than the UN itself. I felt his story could be a lens through which to tell the story of the UN to a new generation and re-evaluate the organisation at a time when many question its effectiveness.”
In the 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.
As Lyons has remarked, “Ban Ki-moon, through his work ethic and commitment to human rights and other principles of the UN, provides a fascinating lens through which to understand how an individual can make a global difference, albeit functioning within the context of a bureaucratic system. I like to think my documentary about Ban’s work and legacy can provide a little more transparency and respect for the work people like him do for others, at the UN and within many organizations. I also understand that people are complex, especially those who aspire to make the world a more harmonious place.”
Join us for this special screening, of a film in which Ban shares many stories from his life, but also one which can open up an important dialogue about international diplomacy, and the future of the United Nations. Our guest for the post-screening discussion and Q+A will be director Charles Lyons.
Guest Speaker
Charles Lyons
Charles Lyons recently directed The Quiet Diplomat (2025), his first feature documentary, about former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the future of the UN. The film has been shown at over 30 film festivals around the world, winning best director at the Tulum World Environment Film Festival and the Palma Film Festival in Portugal.
Lyons has written about the environment, human rights, and film, with articles and opinion pieces in The New York Times, Washington Post, Variety, Mongabay and elsewhere.
He’s also produced for PBS NewsHour and UN-television — in Brazil, Japan, and India — receiving a USAID-supported Conservando Juntos/Earth Journalism Network grant to cover violence due to illegal gold mining on Yanomami territory in the northwest of Brazil; a Pulitzer Center grant to cover Brazil’s presidential election, deforestation and indigenous rights, for PBS NewsHour; and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant for a two-part PBS series on how marginalized groups coped with the pandemic in Brazil. He continues to produce for TNH in Brazil.
Lyons is the author of the book, The New Censors: Movies and the Culture Wars; holds a doctorate in film and theater from Columbia University; and has taught classes at Yale, Columbia, UCLA and SCAD.
Watch the official trailer for THE QUIET DIPLOMAT
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