Section: POLSKIE HORYZONTY: The Female Gaze

MIX IT! – EIN FILMPRAKTISCHES PROJEKT MIT GEFLÜCHTETEN UND EINHEIMISCHEN JUGENDLICHEN

MIX IT! – A FILMMAKING PROJECT WITH REFUGEE AND LOCAL TEENAGERS

Germany, 2017, 0 Min

Integration needs face-to-face encounters: Mix It! is a filmmaking project that brings together young people both with and without refugee background. Under the guidance of professional filmmakers and media pedagogues, they will work in mixed groups to create short films. They are thus not only given insight into the filmmaking process, but also have an opportunity to get to know one another, exchange ideas and thus overcome potential prejudice. In the process the participants generally come to the conclusion that they're not so different after all – a realisation which is reflected in the resulting short films. These end up being less primarily focused on issues of migration and the traumata of war, but more on common issues such as love and career aspirations, as well as shared experiences and fears. The works are closer to essay than documentary, as they narrate or reflect on particular issues, at times even breaking out into song.

Germany 2017 l pupils from the secondary education centre Oberstufenzentrum Cottbus l three short films

The project was first trialed in March 2016. Since then, nine project weeks have already taken place across the federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Thuringia, namely in Teltow, Neuruppin, Schwedt, Erfurt, as well as various schools in Berlin. In the process 36 short films have been created; three student films and a "making-of" for each project week. In collaboration with FilmFestival Cottbus Mix It! recently had its first successful run in Cottbus with pupils from the secondary school Oberstufenzentrum Cottbus.

Mix It! is a project of the German Film Academy, carried out in cooperation with the society bilderbewegen e.V. and the FilmFestival Cottbus. The project is supported in Brandenburg by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the Bündnis für Brandenburg, and in close cooperation with the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the Federal State of Brandenburg. AB

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