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This gorgeous film will move you to help abandoned children

The Oscar-nominated Brown Bag Films were moved to spend 14 months creating this gem to support To Russia With Love.

WHAT DOES IT take to salvage the life of a child who has nothing and nobody?

It’s a big question answered beautifully by this little animation.

Brown Bag Films spent over a year working on this tale of Anya, an orphan in a Russian institution, and how her life could be affected by kindness and support.

Don’t weep, if you can, but definitely watch it (and then think about how you can help – see below video):

brownbagfilms / YouTube

To Russia With Love are hoping that those who see the film might be moved to text HUG to 50300 – that will donate €4 from your phone (Ireland only), or visit ToRussiaWithLove.ie

A massive team worked on the project and writer/director Damien O’Connor said, “The idea was simple, we make a piece of entertainment and if people like it, they show their gratitude by donating money directly to To Russia With Love.

“In a way it’s ‘visual busking’ – we’re used to charity singles and calendars so we applied the same approach to an animated film instead.”

Lisa Hannigan lent the film her haunting vocals.

1 in 15 of us have donated to charity because of #nomakeupselfie>

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    Mute Jack Murphy
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    Apr 29th 2014, 7:31 PM

    Yes, but the charity behind this isn’t goal or concern is it? You’re making a massive generalisation about a charity you know nothing about? I’m 19 and have travelled twice to Belarus (A former Soviet sattelite state) to work in Orphanages with children with disabilities. Idiotic and generic comments like this are the reason why some genuine charities, like the charity in this article aren’t supported in Ireland.

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    Mute Jack Murphy
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    Apr 29th 2014, 7:35 PM

    Original comment I replied to was deleted.

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    Mute Limerick Ploy
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    Apr 29th 2014, 7:30 PM

    Awesome,
    Everyone who thinks they have problems should see this.

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    Mute Kieran Ross
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    Apr 29th 2014, 7:56 PM

    I’ve donated. It’s only €4. You should too.

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    Mute phooey
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    Apr 29th 2014, 8:05 PM

    Simply Beautiful

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    Mute Lovely weather
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    Apr 29th 2014, 8:17 PM

    I’ve been told by a native Russian that the subtitles on the video are in no way correct as a translation for the Russian spoken during the piece.. e.g at 2:30 the subtitles state ” Dream Big, Little One”, which I’ve been told is nowhere near the correct translation for the words spoken.

    However it is a beautiful piece nonetheless…. although a proper translation for the subtitles wouldn’t have gone astray.

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    Mute Dennis Collins
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    Apr 29th 2014, 8:52 PM

    Take for example the phrase, “Dream Big”. That may not translate literally into other languages. Speakers of other languages may not describe dreams as “big” or “small” because they cannot be touched or picked up, so how could they have a size?

    “Little one” – not a common phrase in Ireland. Take our classic “craytur”/”créatur”. You could imagine a grandmother somewhere in Ireland saying “Sleep well, créatur” putting the child to bed. But if someone translated that directly for a foreigner, she would be calling the child a “creature”. Doesn’t work. It would have to be changed.

    Sometimes a proper translation involves changing things around for the target audience so that we can understand it as best as possible.

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    Mute fusha2020
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    Apr 29th 2014, 8:52 PM

    Well what is the proper translation? It’ll bug me otherwise n there’s a lack of Russians round my way!

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    Mute Lovely weather
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    Apr 29th 2014, 9:21 PM

    Ah I’ll post it tomorrow, the Russian speaker is abroad until tomorrow, and I can’t recall what exactly she said the correct translation is.. (For what it’s worth, I’m not in any way being critical of the video above, it was the Native Russian who, while watching it was annoyed at the translation, considering the topic of the video is about orphanages in her home country). I partly think she may have been upset that “They couldn’t even get the translation correct” because of the topic it highlights, and she felt they could have made a better effort.

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    Mute Lovely weather
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    Apr 29th 2014, 9:24 PM

    I’ve been told that the phrase spoken at 2:30 can be translated perfectly into English, but that the subtitles are incorrect. I’ll post what I’m told is the correct translation tomorrow when I ask her.

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    Mute Damien O'Connor
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    Apr 29th 2014, 9:44 PM

    Hi Lovely, I wrote and directed the film – Dream Big, Little One does not translate literally in Russian so we opted to change it.

    After a lot of consultation we opted to go with something closer to ‘Never give up, little one’ – bear in mind that the film was being screened for the orphans at the orphanage, the message to those kids was paramount so we made it more literal. The film has been screened several times in Russia to native Russian speakers during it’s production so all of these choices were made after a lot of analysis. Hope that clears things up.

    Thanks a million for all the kind comments, we are all delighted the film has been received so well!

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    Mute Lovely weather
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    Apr 29th 2014, 10:04 PM

    Damien, I’m sure not going to try and correct the writer and Director:) (In fact, “Never give up, little one” is in fact what the Russian woman I know said it was). She even spoke those words aloud yesterday evening as she watched the video.

    She also appreciates the work put into the making of the video, and what it means for children in her home country.

    Thank you for clarifying.

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    Mute Michelle FitzGerald
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    Apr 29th 2014, 10:12 PM

    Amazing video, well done

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    Mute Shane McCarrick
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    Apr 29th 2014, 10:58 PM

    I have two young children and I call them my little ones, or my munchkins, all the time……..

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    Mute Lorraine Murphy
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    Apr 30th 2014, 11:03 AM

    Really touching, beautifully made.

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