How do we face what we fear? How do we move forward when the unthinkable has happened?

War, loss, trauma – they tear people apart. But can they also bring us closer together?

In Healing Beyond Fear, we follow Katja Blagodyr, Executive Director and Co-Founder of HUG (Help Ukraine Gothenburg) – an organization that has raised over 200 million SEK for Ukraine in just three years. We see her speak on stage before an engaged audience, and we meet her in intimate conversations where she shares her inner journey – about fear, about resistance, and about the power of transforming pain into action.

But Katja is not alone in this story. We meet people who have lived through and worked with conflict – former head of the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) Klas Friberg, former Army Chief Karl Engelbrektsson, and Volvo Defense CEO Andreas Svenungsson – all offering insights into how societies handle threats and uncertainty.

We also hear from voices in countries that have undergone profound reconciliation processes: Rwanda’s ambassador speaks about the nation’s journey from genocide to healing, and former Archbishop KG Hammar reflects on South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission – a process where acknowledging the truth and embracing reconciliation became the key to avoiding civil war. Additionally, Adam Kahane, who has mediated in some of the world’s most entrenched conflicts, shares his perspective on how we can find a way forward, even when everything seems impossible.

But above all, we meet Katja Blagodyr. Through her story, we explore what it means to stand in our fear—not to let it control us, but to transform it into our greatest strength.

In a time of uncertainty and division, the most important strength we can build is our inner resilience – the ability to live with discomfort, to stand firm in the face of fear, and still reach out to one another. This is not a story about “us and them.” This is a story about all of us. About what it means to be human – and how we can build a future beyond fear, together.

The film is 30 minutes long and is subtitled in English.

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Sthlm Social Innovation Lab (www.ssilab.se) presents, in co-operation with HUG (Help Ukraina Gothenburg - www.hug.ngo), a film by Carl Eneroth. Executive producer Emma Ihre.