Mir Wëlle Bleiwe Wat Mir Sinn
A Community Video Campaign from the American-Luxembourger Community
Campaign: We Want to Stay What We Are
Creative Direction: Daniel ATZ
Producer: Daniel ATZ
Video Editing, Production: Lauren LOWELL
Project: Campaign of 4 compilation videos based on 51 crowdsourced videos
Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, thousands of people in the USA and Brazil risked to permanently lose out on the opportunity to reclaim Luxembourgish nationality.
Under Luxembourg’s nationality law, applicants to recover Luxembourgish nationality through ancestral origins had until December 31, 2020. Realizing that due to the pandemic global travel would not be possible in 2020, I decided that I needed to do something. Obtaining Luxembourgish nationality through my own origins was one of the most important things I did in my life. I wanted to make sure that the hundreds of my clients and thousands of other people entitled to nationality did not lose out on this opportunity.
Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, thousands of people in the USA and Brazil risked to permanently lose out on the opportunity to reclaim Luxembourgish nationality.
Under Luxembourg’s nationality law, applicants to recover Luxembourgish nationality through ancestral origins had until December 31, 2020. Realizing that due to the pandemic global travel would not be possible in 2020, I decided that I needed to do something. Obtaining Luxembourgish nationality through my own origins was one of the most important things I did in my life. I wanted to make sure that the hundreds of my clients and thousands of other people entitled to nationality did not lose out on this opportunity.
Working through my business LuxCitizenship, I announced a webinar to discuss the Covid-19 impact on dual citizenship applications. Realizing that thousands of Brazilians were affected by this matter and speaking Portuguese, I also reached out to the Brazilian-Luxemoburgish community.
In the end, 111 people joined for a webinar that was planned for 1 hour but lasted 93 minutes because I had to speak slowly for the Brazilian simultaneous interpreter. 89% of guests stayed for the entire 93 minutes. In the webinar, I made a direct appeal to applicants to record an up to three minute video of themselves and what their future citizenship, Luxembourgish heritage and future opportunities in Luxembourg meant to them.
We registered over 3,000 unique hits to the campaign page within 48 hours. In the end over the course of 10 days, we collected videos from 51 people across the US and Brazil. This amounted to 118 minutes of content of different formats and messages.
Working through my business LuxCitizenship, I announced a webinar to discuss the Covid-19 impact on dual citizenship applications. Realizing that thousands of Brazilians were affected by this matter and speaking Portuguese, I also reached out to the Brazilian-Luxemoburgish community.
In the end, 111 people joined for a webinar that was planned for 1 hour but lasted 93 minutes because I had to speak slowly for the Brazilian simultaneous interpreter. 89% of guests stayed for the entire 93 minutes. In the webinar, I made a direct appeal to applicants to record an up to three minute video of themselves and what their future citizenship, Luxembourgish heritage and future opportunities in Luxembourg meant to them.
We registered over 3,000 unique hits to the campaign page within 48 hours. In the end over the course of 10 days, we collected videos from 51 people across the US and Brazil. This amounted to 118 minutes of content of different formats and messages.
We spent another week of nonstop work sorting through the videos to create a unified message to share with the Deputies of Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies about why all these individuals care about Luxembourg and why they hoped the nationality deadline would be changed.
The Campaign was featured on RTL’s De Journal in an interview along with The Honorable Minister of Justice and Minister of Culture Sam Tanson (see right).
Outcome: On June 18th, the Chamber of Deputies voted to prolong the deadline for individuals to travel to Luxembourg until December 31, 2021. Not only did these videos contribute an important message of solidarity from the new Luxembourgish community in the Americas at a difficult time, it also caused many of these future citizens to discover the Luxembourgish language and current events in Luxembourg for the first time.
We spent another week of nonstop work sorting through the videos to create a unified message to share with the Deputies of Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies about why all these individuals care about Luxembourg and why they hoped the nationality deadline would be changed.
The Campaign was featured on RTL’s De Journal in an interview along with The Honorable Minister of Justice and Minister of Culture Sam Tanson (see right).
Outcome: On June 18th, the Chamber of Deputies voted to prolong the deadline for individuals to travel to Luxembourg until December 31, 2021. Not only did these videos contribute an important message of solidarity from the new Luxembourgish community in the Americas at a difficult time, it also caused many of these future citizens to discover the Luxembourgish language and current events in Luxembourg for the first time.
