Norwegian filmmakers have today revealed that a video that appeared to show a heroic Syrian boy risking his life to save a little girl was in fact shot on location in Malta using professional actors.
Lars Klevberg, a director based in Oslo, said that he wrote the script after watching news coverage of the ongoing conflict in Syria. The 34-year-old explained that he wanted to present the film as reality in order to spark a debate about children living in conflict zones.
Klevberg added that he was not uncomfortable about potentially deceiving millions of people with the video, which has been viewed more than 3.8 million times on YouTube. Watch the behind the scenes video below.