We are very pleased that we were able to invite pupils from the Oder-Spreee district to the school cinema even in Corona times. Two films were shown that were selected for the first time by a youth jury of students from the Maxim Gorki School in Bad Saarow as part of a FILM WITHOUT BORDERS workshop. The winning films CHUSKIT by Indian director Priya Ramasubarattan and the documentary OUR BIG LITTLE FARM by US filmmaker John Chester were presented by the jury on the Thursday of the festival.
Workshops:
For the first time, the festival showed a selection of films for children and young people, curated and presented by a youth jury.
Year 10 pupils from the Maxim Gorki School in Bad Saarow came to Cinema Bad Saarow every morning for a week to watch films for children and young people from five different countries and three continents. Together with the filmmakers and project leaders Anna Faroqhi and Haim Peretz, they talked and wrote about the films. They thought about which films should be shown in the school cinema program at this year's FILM WITHOUT BORDERS festival. So they slipped into the role of film critics and jurors.
The main focus of the discussions was on perception. The question: “What did I see?” came before the quick judgment. Camera concepts and actor direction, light, music, tempo and narrative figures were considered in order to provide a well-founded answer to this question. The young jurors were challenged to respectfully and reflectively examine films whose visual and formal language expanded the boundaries of their viewing habits. They practiced watching films, talking about films and using democratic discussion and decision-making tools. The young people between the ages of 15 and 17 not only asked themselves questions about the way a film is made, but also how it could relate to the reality of young people's lives here and now in Germany and in Bad Saarow and, above all, how it fits in with the festival theme of MUT.
Above all, however, the group of students who had to miss out on school trips and graduation parties due to the coronavirus had an opportunity to get together.
A DREAM OF LIFE
As last year, the focus of this film and encounter project was on the topic of work. In the small town of Storkow, people with and without a migration background sewed around 3,000 masks for all residents in the spring: masks for everyone. The place of work was the Storkow Peace Village, a place of encounter and education that has been involved in international and anti-racist youth, educational and cultural work for over 20 years.
In this second workshop, project leaders Anna Faroqhi and Haim Peretz accompanied the process and created a short observational documentary film, which will premiere at the festival (festival Sunday 1pm).
The project ended with a week of learning and encounters in the Peace Village. Anna Faroqhi: „We noticed that during the coronavirus crisis, German lessons for the adults and children had completely stopped.“ Haim Peretz: „This seemed particularly problematic for the two Somali families who have only been in the Peace Village since January 2020 and have hardly any connections in Storkow. It is thanks to the great commitment of some people from Storkow that we were still able to teach them a little.“
Being together was combined with „language learning“. Vocabulary memory, vocabulary booklets, word learning, quizzes, reading and retelling texts, as well as watching films together, cooking and swimming in the Great Storkow Lake were all part of the program.
THE JOINT THIRD
Experience from previous years has shown that tolerant coexistence is unfortunately still not a matter of course everywhere.
At the request of participants from last year, the work from the FILM WITHOUT BORDERS youth projects is therefore going on tour.
In creative projects in Bad Saarow and the district, short films from the youth program are shown at schools and cultural institutions. They are intended to provide inspiration for short creative projects. The focus of these encounters is on speaking together and the artistic and creative exploration of topics such as tolerance, identity, courage and future prospects. New partnerships may be formed, for example for future youth juries or project participants in a film workshop. Above all, however, the participants are encouraged to take an open, unprejudiced view of their environment and to talk about their potential concerns.
The exchange with young people and local educators is strengthened. The youth projects of the FILM WITHOUT BORDERS association thus become the basis and basis for discussion for new ideas and projects.
The project began in August 2020 and will continue until the end of the year.
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