Short film reveals how a family torn apart by Syrian war stayed connected on WhatsApp
‘Happiness and Love: A True Story on WhatsApp’ applauds the resilience of 20-year-old Syrian refugee Layla Faraj, who turned to the platform in a time of great adversity.
A world increasingly divided by conflict and distance finds solace in unexpected places. One such place is WhatsApp, a simple messaging app that has become a lifeline for millions facing separation and hardship.
In WhatsApp’s latest ad campaign, ‘Happiness and Love: A True Story on WhatsApp,’ the platform shines a spotlight on the profound impact it has on keeping families connected in times of conflict.
The short film, directed by the Iranian-American filmmaker Mohammad Gorjestani, follows the story of Layla Faraj, a 20-year-old student at Barnard College. Faraj managed to stay connected to her family through a WhatsApp group chat amid the Syrian civil war, an ongoing armed conflict that began amid the Arab Spring protests of 2011.
“Layla’s story is one so many of us can relate to, one of family spread out around the world brought together on WhatsApp, especially when they can’t all be in the same place,” WhatsApp’s head of marketing, Vivian Odior, told The Drum. “She highlights the importance of connection and we’re honored she was willing to share her personal story for this film.”
According to the film, Faraj’s family experienced displacement and separation as conflict engulfed their homeland 13 years ago. Once filled with family dinners and cherished moments, their lives in Syria were soon reduced to sporadic phone calls made through calling cards. Traditional communication methods fell short of preserving the intimacy they once shared.
With a simple WhatsApp chat, however, Faraj and her family found themselves just a photo, sticker or voice message away from each other, reigniting the closeness they feared lost. As she says in the film: “We are constantly by each other’s side, carrying one another in our pockets, capturing and sharing our worlds despite the fact that we are on opposite sides of it.”
It echoes the story in Faraj’s New York Times essay, ‘My Plea for a Sixth Love Language,’ which won the New York Times Modern Love College Essay Contest in 2022.
The creative marks the second installment in WhatsApp’s ‘True Stories on WhatsApp’ series, which showcases the remarkable individuals who rely on the platform to maintain connections with their loved ones.
The series’s inaugural film, ‘We Are Ayenda,’ told the journey of young women from the Afghanistan National Youth Football Team, who were forced to flee their country in 2021 after the Taliban claimed power and banned women and girls from participating in sports.
The new film can be watched on WhatsApp’s YouTube channel, social channels and in-app channel.
Credits:
Director: Mohammad Gorjestani
Director of photography: That Lin Htut
Idea creation: WhatsApp and Modern Arts in Los Angeles, CA
Art director: Ghazal Foroutan
Executive producers: Eric Stern, Adam Groves, Zac Ryder
Producers: Amanda Naseem, Diana Frame
Director of strategy: Go Wakimoto
Production + editorial: Even/Odd
Editor: Scott Hanson
Photography: Cheril Sanchez
Music: William Ryan Fritch
Color: Ethos Studio
Colorist: Dante Pasquinelli
Design: Ghazal Foroutan
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