Look Beyond Borders

Amnesty International launched a new video showing recently-arrived refugees and Europeans who look into each other's eyes for four minutes.

"The video, Look Beyond Borders, is based on a theory that four minutes of uninterrupted eye contact increases intimacy. Amnesty International Poland and Polish ad agency DDB&Tribal applied the theory, developed by psychologist Arthur Aron in 1997, to the refugee crisis, sitting refugees from Syria and Somalia opposite people from Belgium, Italy, Germany, Poland and the UK, with overwhelmingly positive results." (via)



“We decided to conduct a simple experiment during which refugees and Europeans sat across from each other and looked each other in the eyes. We recorded these very human encounters and the short film speaks for itself. People from different continents who have literally never set eyes on each other before come away feeling an amazing connection.” 
Draginja Nadażdin, Director of Amnesty International Poland.

“We conducted the experiment in Berlin because the city symbolizes the overcoming of divisions. In that sense, the most important thing is to give people time to understand each other better and get to know one another.”
Hanna Waśko, a campaign organiser from ad agency Big Picture.