Nepal Film

When Nepal was hit by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in April 2015, more than 750,000 Facebook users worldwide came together to give $15 million through the platform’s donation button, with Facebook donating an additional $2 million. To thank everyone for their generosity, and to provide an update about how the funds were being used to provide humanitarian relief, Facebook enlisted Melcher Media to produce a short film that could be shared with the entire Facebook community. To meet this challenge, we immersed ourselves in story research, built a network of contacts in Nepal, and then flew to Kathmandu, where we spent two weeks shooting nonstop. The final film encapsulates Facebook’s vital impact in the country through the lens of Nepali volunteer Amir Thapa’s powerful journey. Facebook premiered the film at Mashable’s 2015 Social Good Summit and then shared it online, where it has now been viewed upwards of seven million times.

 

Refugee Film

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, and her team recently enlisted Melcher Media to produce a short film on the Syrian refugee crisis and the importance of supporting refugees around the world, who now number more than 60 million. Our resulting film—produced in English, French, German, and Spanish—highlights the fact that four out of five people on Facebook are connected to someone directly affected by the Syrian refugee crisis through a friend of a friend. And nearly 8 million people around the world use more than 35,000 Facebook Groups and Pages to support Syrian refugees. The film ends with a call to action, asking Facebook users to make a donation to the Relief for Refugees Fundraiser spearheaded by the International Rescue Committee and Mercy Corps, who are making sure help reaches those who need it.

Sheryl Sandberg shared the film on her personal Facebook page, where it has been viewed nearly 2 million times, and also made it a key part of her speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. You can watch the film here.