Editor

An outspoken supporter of Burma's Buddhist monks who are challenging the country's military government in the current wave of protests, actress Jane Birkin, will arrive in Rio de Janeiro this weekend - where her film Boxes will be seen in the Festival do Rio film festival - and call on Brazil's government and people to join the worldwide demand for an end to the violence and killing that is presently being witnessed in Rangoon.

Birkin will hold a press conference Monday (October 1) at 14:00 Brazil time in the festival's Pavilion headquarters on Copacabana Beach to make her appeal. It is widely expected that she will be joined by many of Brazil's most prominent and influential artists and musicians in a show of their support.

Birkin, who was due to spend several days at the Rio festival is cutting her visit short in order to be back in France on Wednesday when she plans to meet French  president Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss a diplomatic approach to the Burmese authority's handling of the current protests.

Apart from Birkin's successful career as an actress and singer (she has acted in 74 films, was award nominated 3 times and has released 14 albums since the 60's) she is also an  active supporter of Amnesty International and other humanitarian causes, which led her to becoming a close friend of  Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Prize Winner and Burma's most important symbol of peaceful resistance, who has been held hidden from the world for more than 11 of the past 18 years.