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On August 19, 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello died along with 21 other UN staff members when the UN headquarters at the Canal Hotel in Iraq was bombed. It was the first attack on a UN establishment since the beginning of the Iraq War. It’s debatable that when Sergio died, so did the UN’s and USA’s best hope for a quicker, smoother transition of power.

Greg Barker’s Sergio debuted at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in an attempt to show the world just how important of a man Sergio was to human rights, but also to show that he was wholly and simply just a man with hopes, fears, flaws and strengths like the rest of us. Jim Rohner talked to Barker at Sundance where the documentarian shared his thoughts on effectively telling Sergio’s story, the implications and consequences of his death and more.