After the meeting of project partners in Šibenik in July, the third Connecting Cinemas Lounge was held in the picturesque Romanian Rasnov. With its medieval fortress, rich history and beautiful nature, Rasnov is becoming a place that attracts more and more historical and cultural enthusiasts.
The meeting of partners took place during the thirteenth edition of The Film and Histories Festival in Rasnov, which was held under the name "Heroes". The ten-day festival offered rich content so that from morning to the evening one could participate in film screenings, concerts, exhibitions, summer schools and workshops, debates and lectures.
On August 28th, the central event Connecting Cinemas Lounge was held, which brought together partners, audiences and experts from different fields in one place - all to achieve the basic goals of the project: to connect people from European countries, exchange views and experiences related to current global topics and to build and develop new audience.
During the Lounge, a film "Reconstructing Utoya" was shown. It is a Swedish documentary about the terrorist attack during the summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utoya that shook the whole world in 2011. After the screening, the audience, together with producer Claudia Nedelca Duca as moderator, had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion with film director Carl Javer, director of the Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania Kai Brand-Jacobsen and Emilian Mihailov, executive director of the Research Centre in Applied Ethics at the University of Bucharest.
In addition to the host Amza Pellea cinema and the Fortress of Culture team, partners from the German cinema and cultural center Neue Kammerspiele from Kleinmachnow and the M2C Institute from Bremen also took part in the Lounge.
After the meeting in Rasnov, project activities continued in Greece, where the fourth Connecting Cinemas Lounge was held on September 1st, organized by Cinema Star, the oldest cinema in Greek Veria, opened back in 1953. The last Lounge, in addition to the hosts and colleagues from Neue Kammerspiele, was joined by partners from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. Organized in collaboration with the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Lounge focused on the synergy of cinema, film screenings and creatives with a focus on attracting audiences to cinemas.
The development of the concept of hybrid events under the common name Connecting Cinemas Lounge in Germany, Croatia, Romania and Greece has shown all the skill of adapting to the situation. In the midst of the pandemic, the German event was mostly held via zoom application, but events in Croatia, Romania and Greece managed to bring together some of the partners who participated in film screenings, music events, discussions and workshops and showed how important the exchange of opinions and experiences is for further development of cultural content, the audience and the entire community.
The Connecting Cinemas project has brought together a team of colleagues and partners who will, we believe, continue to collaborate on new projects in the future.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Along with the Fortress of Culture and the leading partner, the German cinema and cultural center Neue Kammerspiele from Kleinmachnow, in the project Connecting Cinemas in Rural Areas, also participate: Public Art Lab (Germany), Amza Pellea Cinema (Romania), Cinema Star, (Greece) , M2C Institute for Applied Media Technology and Culture at the City University of Applied Sciences (Germany), Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) and KEA European Affairs Brussels (Belgium).
The project is co-funded by the European Commission from the priority Europe ready for the digital age, and is implemented under the call "Cinemas as Innovation Hubs for Local Communities". The total budget of the project is € 611,455.00, of which the amount of € 72,440.00 refers to the budget of the Fortress of Culture Šibenik.
The content of the release is the sole responsibility of the Public Cultural Institution Fortress of Culture Šibenik.
