When Russia invaded Ukraine, millions of people had to leave their homes, careers and lives behind as they fled to safety. The trauma of war haunting them every step of the way.

Many of those who fled had successful careers in the creative industries; actors, writers, musicians, choreographers, models, fashion stylists to name a few. They also had very active social media accounts that suddenly went from posting every day life to posting stories of terror and anger.

The Ukrainian refugee crisis also meant that the global refugee crisis hit a hundred million people for the first time.

The world's biggest refugee agency, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), didn’t just want to make a film about the Ukrainians refugee crisis but to create a platform for Ukrainian refugees to share an insightful yet hopeful message of solidarity and unity for refugees all over the world.

Being immersed in the Ukrainian refugee community, the director wanted to make justice to the subject matter and portray the PTSD syndrome in the most realistic way, using an elegant structure and classic cinematic approach. The idea was to cast real refugees with their own stories to tell. The real challenge was to find the balance between getting the best performance out of the actors and keeping them in a psychologically safe environment. In order to do that, the Director did many rehearsals where he and the actors established a connection between each other, and built a safe emotional space in order to go places. Being very limited on a budget there was only up to an hour shooting time for each scene, so all the moves had to be choreographed beforehand.

We set out to make a film about strength and unity that would be shared by the Ukrainian refugee community, and that’s exactly what happened

In the first 48hours the film was shared and viewed more than 10 million times. All without a penny of paid behind it. Everyone sharing it was part of the Ukrainian refugee community

The story also caught the attention of the global media, from Variety to BBC world news (the biggest radio station on the planet) both doing interviews with the ukranian cast and crew of uprooted. Importantly, the bigger message of unity with refugees everywhere was clearly delivered through the PR as well as the film.

The campaign become the most viewed content on UNHCR’s channels that year.