This three-and-a-half-minute short film, titled "Witnesses," uses drama to hold a mirror to the face of Greek society about the tragic consequences of school bullying that has tormented the country during the last few years.

It uses a classic three-act structure, with a dramatic reversal for its tragic hero at the end.

The film was shown online and on TV, becoming a big viral hit, moving millions of viewers and occupying public discussion in Greece for more than a week.

Underage crime in Greece is on the rise, official data shows, presenting authorities with a challenge they have never faced at this level before.

With school brawls regularly breaking out, police minister Giannis Oikonomou was summoned to parliament on November 6, 2023, to address the issue.

He said a "culture of violence" was growing among youths in Greece, with often “shocking” results.

Experts and officials blame factors, including Greece's near-decade economic crisis and the coronavirus lockdown, for the spread of youth alienation that countries such as Britain, France, and Germany are already familiar with.

School bullying in Greece is also turning nastier and more frequent, with cases making headlines every week.

A study supervised by the European Antibullying Network found that one in three Greek schoolchildren among nearly 3,000 polled had suffered bullying.

One in six also said they felt their school was not providing adequate instruction against bullying. Much of the violence goes unreported.

"The economic crisis and the pandemic crisis immediately after it played a major role in children being closed off and feeling very uncomfortable without their friends," said Nestor Courakis, a criminology expert and professor of law.

"The result is that they went online, with all that entails in terms of isolation, depression, and negative influences," he said. "Youths have become more familiarised with violence."

In view of the alarming increase in school bullying cases, the Ministry of Education announced that it would tighten laws and launch a platform for parents and students to report incidents.

In the film titled "Witnesses," we see three families watching the same TV report about an attack by students on a schoolmate, like the ones seen every other week on the news in Greece. The parents ask their kids if they know anything, but one after the other, they deny it.

The film's tragic hero is a boy who begins his journey as an observer who doesn't intervene when he sees his schoolmates being bullied. At the midpoint of the film, he becomes a victim at the hands of the head bully, and then, in a dramatic reversal, he turns into a bully himself at the end.

At that point, it is revealed that a third boy being asked by his loving parents is indeed the victim of the attack. Ultimately, he finds the courage to seek help, signifying the campaign's message: not to tolerate bullying but to speak up.

In Greece, juvenile violence had dramatically increased by 200% in 2023. 1 in 3 students is a victim of bullying, according to a survey, while 63% do not report it out of fear of retaliation.

The Greek Ministry of Education wanted to encourage students to speak up and urge them and their parents to file reports in a new web platform at stop-bullying.gov.gr

School bullying affects not only the victims and their families but the entire school community. Studies show that sometimes victims become bullies themselves because of their trauma, adopting similar behaviors to cope or regain a sense of power.

The problem is that children don't speak up. Thus, the cycle of violence, from abuser to the victim, often observed by silent bystanders who don't intervene, continues, producing more violence. Our strategy was to showcase this vicious circle and urge students to break it by talking first.

News of the campaign and the dramatic short film the government was using to urge students to speak up became the headline story on all TV networks and dominated the public conversation for an entire week. Over 50 TV shows aired the film for free, and numerous panels discussed it, with hosts praising its realism and emotional impact. The film also garnered over 250 news articles and was screened in schools throughout the country.

At the same time, the film became a big viral hit online, with more than 5 million organic views on Instagram alone in a country with 8 million internet users. The film was widely shared and received more than 80.000 likes and thousands of heartfelt comments.

Most importantly, during the first week of the campaign, the number of complaints filed increased sevenfold compared to the average number of complaints collected through other means the year before.