The Refuge Project was born from a desire to learn more. We had watched the news, heard the reports, and seen the photos of despair and loss from the shores of the Aegean, but we were left wanting to know more about the people living these headlines.

We wanted to know more about their stories, about what they had lost, what they had left behind, and where they hoped their lives were headed. While news coverage focused on the problem, it often forgot about the human being, so we set out to discover a human story.

The world was changing and we found ourselves at a crossroads in history. We wanted to help in the best way we knew, so we began to document what we saw, and the stories of the people we met. In January 2016, over several weeks on location in Greece, we created The Refuge Project, a multimedia chronicle of human stories from the European refugee crisis, focused on humanity and hope.

The Refuge Project is Matthew K. Firpo, Rosanna Bach, Elliot Ross, Stephen Michael Simon, Jake Saner, Haris Katsigiannis, Matteo Zevi, and Maximilian Guen.

OFFICIAL FILM FESTIVAL SELECTION

WINNER - Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2017, Best Documentary Short
WINNER - San Luis Obispo Intl Film Festival 2017 - Best Documentary Short
WINNER - Oxford Film Festival 2017, Best Documentary Short
WINNER - IndieFest 2017 - Humanitarian Outstanding Achievement Award
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SXSW 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - CamerImage 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Savannah Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - St. Louis International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Hoboken International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Leeds International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Berkshire International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - River Run International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Melbourne International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - CATE International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - UMFF International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Belin International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Greenwich International Film Festival 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION - Footcandle Film Festival 2017