Description
The Minorities Film Festival is a socio-cultural project, aiming at creating a bridge of understanding between minorities living in Romania and also between minorities and Romanians. The project can and will act as a „window” to the world of minorities. Through this „window” the majority can see and understand some of the cultural aspects of the minorities’ livelihoods, leading not only to greater tolerance, but also to greater appreciation of their skills and crafts. This project includes a competition for short film documentaries with a minority-related theme that results in the development of at least 50 productions, 6 of which will be presented in the film festival as a reward for their quality. These productions will be with and about minorities in Romania, and will show the actual experiences of people in the minority communities, revealing an image that the majority population would otherwise not be able to see. The Intercultural Museum/Oslo Museum (Norway) is the donor project partner in this project. It will organise a workshop on best practices for developing quality events and cultural festivals and organise an online workshop for members of Metropolis Association. It will organise a roundtable in Oslo on best practices regarding Roma culture and screen the feature films in the festival in Norway. The partner will also promote the Minorities Film Festival in Oslo.
Summary of project results
The needs addressed were the reduced visibility of the minorities culture within the public space and the educational gap concerning the ethnicity theme within the majority. The objective achieved is a better understanding of the cultural identity of the minorities in Romania, Roma minority included, through a cultural event itinerated in Romania and a festival in Oslo. The outcome was the increasing the number of culture consumers (27.600 persons) through a film festival was organized in 5 cities: București, Timișoara, Constanța, Târgu Mureș, Oslo. The project brought the multiculturalism theme closer to the public not only through film projections, but also through the promotional campaigns organized prior to the festival. The beneficiaries were involved as participants, with their own film productions, to the selection of the film festival, as members of the public, in the above mentioned cities from Romania and Norway and as trained experts within the project The main benefits were the creation of a data-base with feature films on ethno cultural topics, the public presentation of 12 short films with and about minorities in Romania in each of the locations where the festival was organized, the presentation of 7 feature films, one of them being Norwegian which increased public knowledge with respect to cultural diversity and the living conditions of minorities, the promotion, in situ and on the site of the project, of a selection of 51 short films and the editing of a catalog of feature films addressing ethno cultural topics, the Familiarizing a public of more than 15,500 persons with the values and traditions of Romania‘s minorities – the medium for this being a film festival with ethno cultural theme.
Summary of bilateral results
The Norwegian partner contributed to the bilateral cultural exchange with the elaboration of a best practices guide, and the training of 15 Romanian participants, appraisal of the short films recorded in the competition, promotion of the film productions from Romania and Norway in both countries, a mutual knowledge of the partner organizations from the two countries, as an outcome of their collaboration in organizing the Oslo festival. Oslo Museum/Intercultural Museum contributed to the organization of a film festival, to the elaboration of a best practices guide, to a workshop mediation for 15 Romanian participants and to the promotion of the films selection in Romania and Norway. The project promoter reported that 6 features, 5 short movies were projected for 3 days for a total number of 207 spectators in Oslo. One Norwegian movie was included in the selection of the festival and promoted in the Romanian cities. The project facilitated a better mutual understanding of the two cultures, through exposing the public to a selection of feature and short films. It also created a framework for similar future collaborations. The elaboration of a film catalog and of a site with thematic short movies will inspire other cultural operators from both countries and will facilitate similar initiatives to be implemented for the future.