There are more than 105,000 orphans in Russia. The main problem is that when potential parents first become interested in adoption, they can only view the kids on the state data bank, where they are presented with a sloppy picture and a short and cold description. The challenge was to make the whole country aware of this awful situation and mostly to prompt the government to find a new way to present the orphans by substituting the pictures on the state data bank with videos that give justice to the kids’ personalities.
That’s why together with Change One Life Foundation we created “Movies that Change Lives”. We invited 10 of the best Russian movie and advertising directors. Each of them visited different orphanages around the country to meet the children. Then each director wrote and shot a short movie starring a little orphan, using his own style and vision to reveal the child’s personality.
For one month these 10 movies were played all over Russia in cinema halls and online. People from all the regions of the country immediately started sharing and talking about the project. TV channels, newspapers, magazines, bloggers: we got hundreds of free publications. 4 of the 10 kids were already adopted, others were requested for adoption. The government is ready to collaborate in upgrading the whole national archive. This way not only 10 but hundreds of thousands kids’ can be discovered and adopted.