Hedy Ben Khalifat was compelled to produce this film in 1957 during the war for independence, when it was announced that the Morice Line was to be built on the border between Algerian and Tunisia. Tunisia was petitioning to become a member of the UN, and this film was made as a a report on the situation. Algerian families sought refuge in Tunisia, where no facilities or infrastructure were in place to handle their plight; so the focus is on women and children struggling to survive without resources. Filmmaker Cécile Decugis was in the country to work with René Vautier on his film Anneaux d'or (1959), but due to the politics of the time, the film was released and shown in sympathetic Sweden but not in the director's home country of France. In 2007 Cécile found the soundless negative of The Refugees, and decided to remake the film. Recording new narration, she re-evaluated the 50 year old images
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