Jonathan Demme is preparing a documentary about Jimmy Carter'sbook Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, thedirector said at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival (Sept21-30) this week.

"I'm going to do a documentary film starting in aboutsix weeks with the former United States president Jimmy Carter, who has a newbook coming out," Demme said at a press conference here, where he ispromoting his new movie Neil Young: Heart Of Gold.

"I'm very proud of Carter for going out with his booksoon and I'm glad that we'll be there to film that and I hope that willcontribute to a better understanding in America and we make this move towardspeace that we somehow overpower Bush's movement towards war."

In the book, Carter "takes a very strong positionagainst US foreign policy in the Middle East and I'm very excited to be helpingmake that film because in my country this is a subject that is not discussednearly enough."

In a similarly political vein, Demme said he hoped thefilm about Young and his music might "help us all remember some of thepositive things that Americans really care about, to separate out from theAmerica that George Bush has created in so many ways."

The director, who is currently working on a documentary inNew Orleans about people displaced by Hurricane Katrina as they move back intotheir homes, said he seeks opportunities to work in the documentary genre andlikes films that touch on political themes, such as Alfonso Cuaron's ChildrenOf Men, which played in San Sebastian overthe weekend.

Demme also weighed in on two films concerning September 11: United93 and Oliver Stone's World TradeCenter, the latter screening in SanSebastian later this week. Although he admitted he had not yet seen eitherfilm, he suggested neither"sound to me like the kind of films aboutSeptember 11 that might be valuable, that we as a global civilization mightbenefit from, that we might somehow learn from to help stimulate us towardsmore and more thinking towards peace and away from fuelling the fires of whatthey call the war on terror."