Camera Zizanio

Just like every year, the Zizanio kids were punctual to their date with some of our festival’s oldest friends: Kalman Czibolya’s group from Mako, Hungary. And so on the 1^st of August, Gesthimani Roumpani, Sofianos Santatsoglou and Kallirroi Taroudaki departed for Romania in order to participate in the film workshop “Zoom to Europe and Transylvania 2011”.

This year things were a lot different to what we were used to. The film workshop took place exclusively in a small Transylvanian village called Agyagfalva. This picturesque village was familiar to most of the participants, as they made a 3-day visit there during 2010’s Zoom to Europe. However this time, they had the chance to spend 10 whole days there, experiencing life in the village and receiving countless incentives in order to get inspired for their films. And how could they not get inspired? The village had all the beauties of nature with its green hills offering a great view of the region, the little brook flowing next to the houses, the animals wandering among the people and them seeing it as the most natural thing in the world. Anything someone might be missing from the past, they can find it there.

In Agyagfalva we also met a lot of old friends – and not only. The whole group from Mako of Hungary, together with the group from Szeged, were mainly the ones responsible for the organization of the meeting. Working together with the residents of the village, they made sure all participants had the best possible staying, and they also provided the necessary gear for the process of film making.

The Canadian photographer, Mark Hemmings, organized a photography workshop, in which everyone was allowed to participate. His communication with people, even if they do not speak the same language, is remarkable. Thus, the attention everybody was paying during his lessons, together with their excitement every time he spotted the next subject to be photographed, was something he had managed to win with his friendly and helpful behavior. So after he taught us the main principles of photography, making sure we take advantage of all of our camera’s features, he did a little demonstration of how to edit a picture properly. The last day that all of the participants’ creations were shown, Mark gave the chance to each one of his students to select the 10 best pictures they had taken, so that they can show to the people what they had learnt during those days.

There was one more person who could not be missing from our meeting: the Korean professor and director Wangtae Lim. Present at all of the events, he was willing to help with anything needed. And of course in the end he shared with us the pictures he took during the workshops, offering them as a gift to all participants.

But let us not forget all the residents of Agyagfalva, who without any hesitation offered their hospitality. They opened their houses for us, made sure we had the best time we could and were there for us all day long. Children, youngsters and adults were living in a creativity tempo!

Except for the presentations of the photographs, also the films made by the participants were shown on the last day. Influenced by the different way of living in the village, most of them preferred to make short films regarding the tradition, the culture of the Hungarian minority living in the area and they generally tried to show this different, this well preserved character of Agyagfalva.

The Greek delegation, working together with some kids from Hungary and the village, chose to write a script and make a 3-minute film, which managed to get a lot of applauding and remarkable comments.

However it was not the only one, as the excitement of the viewers was plenty for all of the creations. Especially for the locals, how could it not be, after seeing their small village on the big screen?

A different experience for the Zizanio kids, one more opportunity for them to be creative. And this is how we will keep going!!!

Gesthimani Roumpani

Short films made by participants of the Zoom to Europe and Transylvania (August 2011, Agyagfalva/Lutita, Romania) Click here