The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has created a short film inspired by Jenifer Toksvig’s poem, “What They Took With Them – a List.” The objective behind this project is to draw attention to the global refugee crisis and to gather signatures for the #WithRefugees petition.
The participants who delivered the readings in the film include Cate Blanchett, Keira Knightley, Juliet Stevenson, Peter Capaldi, Stanley Tucci, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kit Harington, Douglas Booth, Jesse Eisenberg, and Neil Gaiman. The video embedded above features the group’s performance.
According to the UNHCR’s Facebook post, Toksvig wrote the poem after hearing “stories and first-hand testimonies from refugees forced to flee their homes and items they took with them. One of the sources for the poem was Brian Sokol’s photography project, ‘The Most Important Thing,’ made in collaboration with UNHCR. Many of Brian’s photos, along with firsthand accounts from the refugees he photographed, are featured in the film.” (via Neil Gaiman’s tumblr post)