How Don't Panic and Stink brought the DEC's message to the streets of Ukraine

It's been a year since the conflict in Ukraine began and in that period, amongst all of the devastation and tragedy, the world has seen the remarkable strength of the nation and its people.

Paying tribute to that, as well as highlighting the support provided, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has commissioned a moving and emotive ode to resilience: Never Alone.

Brought to the screen by Don’t Panic and produced through Stink Films, with production service from Radioaktive, the film sees a cast and crew of people who have chosen to remain or return to Ukraine recite the remarkably apt lyrics of Rodgers and Hammerstein's You’ll Never Walk Alone direct to camera, backed by real-life locations that demonstrate the breadth of the destruction.

Co-directed by Rick Dodds (who also wrote the piece) and Leo Maguire, the film makes for a stirring, impactful and important watch. We caught up with Dodds to find out how it was all put together.

How did the campaign come about? What did the DEC want from the film?

The cost of living crisis. The Pandemic. The revolving doors of Downing Street. The British public have had a lot to deal with over the past 12 months. And yet we raised a staggering £400 million for Ukraine - one of the biggest appeals in the DEC’s 60 year history.

The DEC needed to announce this. But from the offset we knew the brief was on a knife edge. The conflict was still going on. It might get worse. Yes the donations are helping millions, but the strength and stoicism of the Ukraine public are the real heroes. 

Tonally, it was a tough brief to get right. 

Where did you find your cast?

We cast actors for this film, but they’re also human beings who are living in an active conflict zone. Which is quite unique as they had the acting ability but also the real life emotions for the film. We had an idea of the cross-section of society we wanted to cast, but our brief was more about stoicism. We were looking for people, faces and characters that embodied the strength of Ukraine. And we found it everywhere. In everyone. 

We were looking for people, faces and characters that embodied the strength of Ukraine.

Take the young boy on the swing and then in the bunker. He’s four years old. An incredible acting talent. But he’s sitting there. At 20.30 at night. Acting in a bunker where he has had to spend a significant part of his young life. And yet he was giving his performance everything. He truly embodies the strength of Ukraine. 

I think this approach to casting is why there is so much authenticity and truth in this film, because it’s neither a pure documentary or a fictional script. It sits somewhere between genres, and this was a really exciting place to explore. 

The film is built around the lyrics to You'll Never Walk Alone. How did you come to choose that track? Were you always looking for a pre-existing text to work from?

From the beginning, we wanted to find a piece of music that resonated with the British public but also had enough depth in the lyrics that a Ukrainian cast could make them their own.

We looked, and scripted, maybe 30 or 40 tracks. It was a really interesting process as lyrics we all knew suddenly took on a different meaning delivered by a Ukrainian person standing outside their conflict-torn house, apartment block or park. There were quite a few tracks that really hit home for us, but You’ll Never Walk Alone just had more depth than others. Almost every line resonated with a situation. From a refugee “walking through the storm” to a couple sitting in front of their blown apart house saying “though your dreams be tossed and blown”. It also had defiance. In lines like “walk on” and the kid in the bunker saying “with hope in your heart” as bombs reigned overhead. 

There were quite a few tracks that really hit home for us, but You’ll Never Walk Alone just had more depth than others. Almost every line resonated with a situation.

Instinctively we also didn’t want the music itself to play a part. This was about the words, and the cast owning them. Adding the original melody would have taken us back into our own world. We were very lucky that the incredible Max Richter agreed to let us use the atmospheric and powerful Infra 5 on the film. A special thanks to Sara Giles at King Lear for helping make that happen. 

The film was co-directed by you and Stink's Leo Maguire. What was the balance of your working relationship? How were responsibilities divided?

It all started off in the traditional sense. I sent the script to Blake who immediately suggested we shoot it in the Ukraine with Leo. Me and Leo hit it off immediately and as writer and director were sharing ideas, tracks, locations, casting the lot. Unfortunately in pre production Leo got sick and was unable to continue. 

We had started casting and locations but still had decisions to make, recalls to do, the shoot, edit, music, post… Blake rang me and suggested that I take over the reigns to direct it. I have directed before and been fortunate enough to win British Arrows for it so I’d always been keen to direct again. I’d also had a lot of conversations with both Leo and Blake so had a really strong vision for the film we wanted to make. 

But it was a big job to direct and even bigger shoes to fill. I’ll always be indebted to the faith Stink, Radioactive and my colleagues (friends) at Don’t Panic had in me to do this. It was always going to be a labour of love, but the circumstances made it even more so.