“There once lived…” - The story of five homeless friends of Sant’Egidio in Moscow

The project winning the 3rd price for “innovative story telling” by World Press Photo 2018

Friends of Sant'Egidio in Moscow, together with the website takiedela.ru and other organizations, launched the "Homeless Day" in Russia back in 2017. Among the different initiatives, takiedela.ru produced five animated documentaries upon the life of 5 deceased homeless people that Sant’Egidio met in Moscow and with whom members of the Community had established bonds of friendship.


The project wants to tackle the wide-spreading of prejudices by explaining that each and every person living on the street has it’s own past, most of the time an ordinary one, and he/she would have ever imagined or wanted a future like that. When Lilia died - her story is among the five below - the tradition to remember all the friends who died on the street started: a preyer celebrated in one of the Parishes in the centre of Moscow, by the end of the winter season.

Explore the five stories