67 people from all over the world had their DNA tested to show their ancestral history, dating 500-2000 years back. The participants were interviewed about their sense of national identity, pride, patriotism and also prejudice towards other nationalities. Secondly they were asked to reflect upon their often surprising results once these were revealed to them. Lastly the participants were invited to travel to the all the places their DNA revealed.

We employed casting agencies to help us find participants. Specifically, we used two agencies, one in London and one in Copenhagen. These two agencies sourced participants via their extras databases, their own networks and via online forums and street castings. In the process of selecting the participants, we were presented with their ethnicity and family history.

The casting agencies filmed round 200 people talking about themselves and where they come from for 10 minutes each. After this, 67 were asked to take a saliva DNA test. Based on these results, together with the participants’ personal stories, we selected 20 for the shoot in Copenhagen. The criteria we looked at were their ancestry, their perception of themselves and the world, and if there was a surprise element in their DNA results.