Human Rights Heroes

The whole world watched the drama that unfolded during the student-led pro-democracy demonstrations and ensuing massacre in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square. Will it watch again--through Hollywood’s eyes? A number of producers hope so.

So does HBO--an insider there tells us the cable network is hungry for a China project, if the right one comes along.

Michael Manheim (TV’s “Roe vs. Wade”), who’s pursuing dramatic rights, said he’s “in direct touch with the dissident student leaders in China--and elsewhere.” Meaning Paris, where eight student leaders triumphantly surfaced on Bastille Day.

The project will be part of “The Human Rights Project”--a series of features/TV projects about “human rights heroes around the world.” Manheim’s company is partnered in the venture--”in the works long before China transpired”--with RAI, Italy’s premiere TV network, and producer Alex Ponti, with the support of several human rights organizations.

Other contenders include David Rintels, who’s “kicking some ideas around with some people.” And Mike Farrell, who’d like to find “an American hook. There are Americans who were there and involved. We’d like to make an agreement with the right individual.”

Meanwhile, author and China expert Orville Schelle is trying to raise $800,000 for a 90-minute documentary on the China uprising that would use existing footage from China and other locales. China’s Chen Kaige (“Yellow Earth,” “King of the Children”), in the United States when the protests exploded, would direct. Peter Kovler (“Hotel Terminus”) will produce.

Schelle said he is also being pursued as a consultant on several projects being developed by others.

“The subject has universal appeal,” Schelle surmised. “If you can believe in L.A. detective heroes, you can believe in human rights heroes. They really put their lives on the line.”