ULCINJ – Through its second Open Call, RYCO supported connecting twenty young people from Serbia and Montenegro, participants of a unique film education program SeaVa Youth. The program organized in partnership between NGO iACT from Montenegro and Valjevska Kulturna Mreža (VAKUM) from Serbia, took place during the Seanema Film Festival in September this year.
“Seava Youth was fast-paced, versatile, fun and excellent opportunity for young people who want a hands-on introduction to the basic principles of filmmaking. However, the experience in Ulcinj resulted to be much more than that. Shattering stereotypes, building new bridges of interaction and establishing solid grounds for lasting friendships, is what turned this experience into a life-changing one for all of the participants,” the RYCO grantees pointed out.
The program consisted of a film workshop and a master class, while production of a short movie will follow by a sequel in December this year. During the whole project, students had a chance to learn different aspects of filmmaking, from screenwriting principles to story visualization, narrative structure development and the process of filming itself.
Interactive workshops were facilitated by Mr Pavle Simonić, Mr Sabir Kanaqi and Ms Biljana Vušović, who together with the students did location scouting process and filming of the movie Escape from Reality both implemented on beautiful sceneries of the coastal town of Ulcinj during the three-day workshops.
Through the process of “learning by doing”, students rotated through necessary positions of director, cinematographer, cameraperson and actor/actress on location. The fourth day was reserved for editing, and later premiering the film at the closing ceremony of the fifth edition of Seanema Film Festival.
“I told my friends at home, that this was one of the best experiences in my life. I told them how useful the workshop was, how many new people I met, as well as how doing new and interesting things, and having such great mentors guiding you – is something not to be missed,” one of the young participants pointed out. “After a long time, I felt fulfilled. Now I want to do something bigger. I think that says enough how much this experience actually helped,” another young person underlined.
Participants of SeaVa Youth also attended an open class, with the Albanian-born and New York-based director, producer and screenwriter Mr Bujar Alimani, whose film Delegation won multiple awards among which the Grand Prix of the Warsaw International Film Festival, as well as the two well-known Albanian actors, Mr Ndriçim Xhepa and Mr Viktor Zhusti.
