…and four more films
Media-education seminar, which got financial support from Erasmus + Agency for Mobility and EU programs for lifelong learning and is intended for Higher Education was held from September 23 to 28 in Varaždin and Čakovec (and with a short stay in Ludbreg), together with programs of the 52nd Croatian Children’s Film Festival. It was attended by representatives from Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Serbia and group leaders of school film groups from Croatia. Among other information that the participants exchanged, they talked about the fact that in Croatia (and the same goes for other countries in the region) only 12 school lessons per year are dedicated to media culture and that is the case in only 11 secondary schools in which they regularly conduct such activities!
The seminar served as a platform for the development of a manual on media education in which experience and knowledge from the participating countries as well as reflections and recommendations for further development were collected. Promotion of the manual is expected at Dubrovnik Film Festival which will be held in mid-October.
Photo by Adrian Žgaljić: Authors turning green
Finally, in the workshop part of the seminar four works were made by children from Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey. On a presentation which was small, we could almost say intimate, and certainly filled with a sense of pride that was held on Sunday in the lounge on the third floor of Čakovec Hotel Park, somewhere between six and six thirty in the afternoon, while dusk was falling (along with mosquitoes!) above the city, fifteen authors, participants and spectators gathered (some were sitting on the floor, some standing...) in order to see the results of the four-days’ work. Actually, five-day’s work, because Sandra was still holding a laptop in her lap on which she finalized the animated film (shown last, when everything was done), and Ivana's under eye circles as well as Karlo and Antonio’s three-day beards testified that they had been working every night to finish everything on time. Only Ksenija was smiling with her nothing-can-break-me smile, as always! Then there were Nikola Janković and Matija Žibrat that greatly helped with their technical and other knowledge. And people drank, as is customary at such screenings. I mean, they drank chocolate milk from one of our sponsors! Some even drank two, I saw them.
A nice film called A Bad Idea was made at the fiction film workshop led by Antonio Britvar and Karlo Batistić, both from the Association Hodači po žici. It is about the kids who initially do not know what to film (a film about a film!), and then opt for a story of an evil guy who steal harmless lady's purse and everybody runs after him. Ivana Rupić, leader of the TV report workshop made with the kids a great story about the 44th Varaždin Barocco, a baroque music festival, with a number of relevant statements and comments of participants, organizers and passers-by on the streets of Varaždin. Participants of the documentary workshop, who mainly had little or no film experience (that was obvious from abundant contrasting light and the like, but well, children are still learning). Ksenija Sanković from KKK led them and they made a film on a little Turkish girl who was a member of the international children’s jury at the 52nd Festival, and who celebrated her birthday during the festival, happily stunned by all the attention and sympathy of other children and organizers. During that time, the animators, which were led by Vanima’s Morana Bunić and Iva Šobak, worked on the story called Animal Kingdom about various parts of the world presented by animals characteristic for it.
And so, it all ended in the only possible way, with a film, because of which we all (and everyone else) were there in the first place. We were full of pride, satisfaction and tranquillity after we realized that everything turned out great. And hopefully we will meet again soon!
Duško Popović
29.09.2014.