Who and Why?
We are two filmmakers, Anabel Rodriguez (who came to Austria herself 5 years ago) and Sepp Brudermann (from Austria). Seeing the human tragedy of the refugee crisis unfolding in front of our eyes, it became clear that just watching is not an option. Especially the incredible number of more than 1200 unaccompanied minors in Traiskirchen, Austria’s largest refugee camp is too shocking to sit still. And so an idea was born…
The Project:
In collaboration with the filmmakers Ehsan Ehsani from Afghanistan and Amir Goodarzi from Iran we want to run weekly filmmaking workshops together with a group of kids in the refugee camp with the goal to produce short documentaries which will be shown during the this human world Austrian human rights film festival in December. So the idea is not only to «entertain» them but to teach them the basics of filmmaking. Of course we are aware that not all of them will become filmmakers, but we think that the attention and also the experience of recognition when their work will be shown publicly will have a positive effect on the kids and will show them that also here – in this new and strange world – things are possible and that there is a hopefully better future waiting for them. Another effect we are hoping for is on the side of the audience. By stepping out into a wider public during the festival and also in possible future TV broadcasts we will open a gap for the audience to see the world of these kids and refugees in general and we are hoping that this will contribute to reduce fear and potential animosity amongst the Austrian people.
The Kids
We have been to the refugee camp several times and have already gathered a group of kids that are eagerly waiting for the workshops to start.
this human world
The project will be realised in close cooperation with the this human world Austrian human rights film festival, which will not only guarantee that the produced films will reach a wider audience, but they will also provide their network and infrastructure that is necessary to realise the workshops. The project is also supported by the Austrian Kinderfreunde, the Austrian asylum coordination, the TV channel OKTO and the mayor of the town Traiskirchen who provides a room for us that we can use.
