There is no way you can know first-hand stories of refugees and keep doing nothing
Director Daniel Mulloy said: “My partner’s own experience as a refugee, the most personal to me, combined with the thought of the young family I had met, almost a year earlier guided ‘HOME’ at every stage.” With the project “HOME” the team was sending two different messages: A humanitarian message – to serve as a global call to all governments and societies to tackle the current migration and refugee crisis from a humanitarian perspective- and a development message – to showcase Kosovo as a place with talent, capacity and many young professionals who crave a platform or opportunity to produce wonderful cinematic art, and thus make Kosovo an attractive place for the film industry.
Kosovo does not only need to create more jobs for young professionals, but also to diversify its portfolio. The best example is Production Designer, Ms. Mrinë Godanca and Art Director, Ms. Elmedinë Morina, who have put together the two most difficult sets that made the movie so original. They were architecture students at the time, they have now gone on to be architects and highly sought after as set designers. British artist, Isaac Gracie, did a video in Kosovo and the project´s set designers were doing sets for the video. Many other artists got more opportunities.
The production of “Home” was completed right before the SDGs were finalized and launched, but the team already knew most of the inputs into SDGs, hence the finalized product encompasses issues covered about 7 different goals. Probably no other UN entity tried such a complicated engagement of a multitude of stakeholders for a communications product of this level.
The movie HOME, including production, promotion and screening touched the lives of millions of people; whether they have seen it in the theatre, Vimeo, BBC iPlayer or in different TV stations. Initially, it was connected to the #with refugee’s petition and it not only serves to elicit empathy from viewers and humanize refugees, it also reminds viewers of the horrors of conflict including: sexual violence in conflict, food scarcity in conflict regions, suffering of children, etc.
Due to the success of “HOME”, the distribution partner, New Europa Cinema, estimates that the movie will generate revenues for the next 5-6 years. The UNDC Office intends to utilize these revenues for financing similar projects. With regards to the movie “HOME”, the team plans to release it free to air soon, once the conditions allow for it to be viewed by all that have access to internet.