During World War II Ashgabat became a refuge for both institutions, including Moscow State University and the Kiev film studio, and individuals. Roughly 8,000 refugees were quartered in private homes during the war. Among the outsiders who escaped to Ashgabat during the war were Andrei Sakharov and author Yury Olesha. In 1944 Ukrainian motion picture director Mark Donskoy filmed ''Rainbow'' ( , ) in Ashgabat, which was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film.