Blanchett, the Oscar-winning actress and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador, heads the cast which also includes Stanley Tucci, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Jesse Eisenberg, among others. These are some of things that refugees have hurriedly picked up and carried when they fled their homes because of conflict or persecution.
Advertisement
Blanchett and the others take turns reading lines from poet Jenifer Toksvig’s “What They Took With Them”, a rhythmic poem inspired by the real life items that refugees from across the globe have actually taken with them as they flee.
“I think it captures the sense of ‘what would I take?’, ‘what would I do?'” Blanchett said to fellow Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in an interview live-streamed on Facebook. “I want my skin to be white, and my hair to be spiked”.
“What if somebody spots me and calls the police because I’m illegal?” “We rubbed ourselves in vomit, so the pirates wouldn’t touch us”, Knightley reads.
Meanwhile, photographs from Brian Sokol’s project, “The Most Important Thing” are interspersed in the film and projected onto the actors.
That’s just one of many fears that refugees face as they seek safety and asylum in a new land, and those questions are front and center in a powerful new video from the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR that enlists several Hollywood heavyweights to help raise awareness of refugees’ plight.
The film was made to inspire viewers to sign the #WithRefugees petition, which will help ensure refugees are given basic essentials needed to rebuild their lives, such as education, shelter and employment.
The video invites people to sign the #WithRefugees petition, which will be presented at the UN General Assembly on September 19.
Advertisement
GENEVA (AP) – What would you take along if you were forced to become a refugee? “Yet they are often silent”, Stevenson said ahead of the event hosted by CARE International and Women for Refugee Women.
