IRC improves content sharing from conflict zones with CineSys and Storj

For an organization supporting people in conflict zones, disaster areas, and regions with limited infrastructure, the IRC relies heavily on video and photography to tell critical stories. But its production workflow wasn’t built for the realities of a distributed global team.

Raw footage lived on on-premises servers in New York. Editors and producers across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East depended on hard drives and long transfers just to start working. Remote editors had to request files from a single physical location. Team members in Austin and LA couldn’t reliably access source footage. Uploading or retrieving assets from colleagues in Iraq, Gaza, or Pakistan required slow, region-bound cloud solutions or manual workaround systems.

The result was delays, duplicated work, and a constant struggle to keep projects moving. As Chad Clendinen described it, “I couldn’t get to the raw footage… it was such a nightmare.” The team knew the workflow couldn’t support the scale and urgency of their mission , especially as more of their content was coming from active conflict areas, where time lost could directly impact fundraising and response efforts.

IRC partnered with CineSys to design and deploy a modernized cloud-based workflow that eliminated the constraints of its on-premises system. Together, they implemented an architecture centered around LucidLink for collaboration, Iconik for media management and proxy workflows, and Storj for distributed, globally accessible cloud storage..

CineSys handled the integration end-to-end, and Chad noted the impact immediately, saying “It was a huge step forward for us — the difference was immediate.” CineSys handled the integration end-to-end, migrating years of poorly organized legacy data, repairing corrupted file structures, and aligning the new tools into a unified system. LucidLink became the foundation for organizing and accessing footage. Iconik provided fast preview, search, metadata, translation workflows, and proxy-based navigation. Storj served as IRC’s archive, backup, and global distribution layer, enabling vendors and teams anywhere to upload or download full-resolution assets without bottlenecks.

Instead of relying on a single data center, Storj’s distributed architecture removed the traditional "pick a region" constraint. Editors in New York, Austin, LA, Iraq, Gaza, or Pakistan could access footage without being tied to one geographic location , a critical advantage for an organization that may need to deploy teams to new regions at any moment.

CineSys remained IRC’s primary partner throughout the rollout, supporting onboarding, configuration, training, and ongoing optimization as the system expanded.

Faster access to footage from conflict zones is now a reality for the IRC. With footage uploadable and shareable through globally distributed storage, the team no longer waits on physical drives or region‑bound transfers. Content coming from Ukraine, Gaza, Pakistan, and other challenging environments moves through the pipeline far more efficiently, allowing editors to begin work immediately — even on urgent, last‑minute editorial requests. Raw footage, proxy files, translations, and updates flowed through LucidLink, Iconik, and Storj without disruption flowed through LucidLink, Iconik, and Storj without disruption. A freelance editor in LA collaborated seamlessly with the internal team , something that was impossible before the workflow overhaul. Complex projects now run without the bottlenecks that once consumed days of lost time. Chad shared that “It feels light years ahead of where we were… I demo it to friends because it shows what’s possible.”

The new architecture enables simpler collaboration with global vendors, many of whom lack their own cloud storage or upload tools. With Storj integrated into Iconik, teams in Gaza, Pakistan, and other regions can contribute content without installing additional software. On the download side, Storj’s distributed design allows vendors to receive full‑resolution assets instantly through share links , no LucidLink onboarding or external cloud services required.