Tag Archives: testimonies

A cemetery called the Mediterranean

Lampedusa’s people In Memoriam.

https://youtu.be/1hEYq1XqHEo

A short film by Malaventura for the European Souvenirs Show, a live cinema remix-performance touring Europe inside of the project Remapping Europe, an investigative artistic project by Doc Next Network with activities that stem from one underlying principle: re-mixing of media as a method to re-view, re-investigate and re-consider prevailing imagery of migrants in European societies.

Used footage from Fernando Lopez Raya archive & Orphan films from Fleamarkets.

Creative Commons License / CC-By-SA

New Doc Next Theme: Interactive Storytelling.

Introducing a new Doc Next Network featured Theme for December and January: INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING.

At a time when interactivity is redefining the documentary landscape, Doc Next Network, as a movement committed to reimagining the notion of “documentary”, tackles the link between digital interactive technologies and documentary making by zooming in on interactive storytelling practices.

Promoting documentary as tool for communication as well as documentation, and forming a link between traditional media and the constantly developing world of free culture, Doc Next Network investigates interactive storytelling as a new model of exchange between young creators, providing them an alternative space to be inter-active, inter-participatory, and inter-dependent.

Essentially, the interactive multimedia capability of the Internet provides documentarians with a unique medium to create non-linear and multi-linear forms of narrative that combine photography, text, audio, video, animation and infographics. Beyond that, with the development of new authoring tools, with HTML5 and open video possibilities, media makers are getting enabled to create a wider range of experiences and personal ways for the networked audience to tap into the narrative sphere of a documentary, giving them an active role in the negotiation of ‘reality’.

With the Do-it-with-Others (DiwO) approach deeply ingrained in our network, we believe these practices help the new generation of media makers create meaningful, socially engaged stories in a participatory framework by introducing new ways of interaction, conversation and sharing of ideas between and among their different communities, allowing them to compare the realities of different worlds and ultimately to present in novice ways alternative perspectives on contemporary Europe and beyond.

“Social justice through free culture and expanded (media) education.” This is what we seek to promote and accomplish through our work as Doc Next Network. We welcome, investigate and help construct new approaches, methods and tools of storytelling to do just that.

The theme of Interactive Storytelling will run until mid January 2013.

DNN@European Culture Congress

Next Doc Network presented its activities to the public in Poland for the first time. The opportunity to meet and people and talk about the DNN was one of a kind: the European Culture Congress saw over 200 thousand participants over 4 days. The program was filled with over 100 interdisciplinary projects prepared by 550 artists and curators.

Among them the Doc Next Network screenings of films made by young artists from across Europe and a purpose built container, where films were were watched at all times (including on special projections during night time), information was obtained and many interesting conversations were held. We issued special publications in Polish and English, and produced a video to promote our activities.

Visitors at the Doc Next Network container watched films and talked to hubs representatives, acquired DVDs with the special Congress pick of 11 films from the DNN collection, our t-shirts and bags (which proved hugely popular among the Congress audience). Our guests had their photos taken with a polaroid camera and kept a DNN branded portrait. If you didn’t get a chance to visit or follow the (almost) real time commentary on Association’s “ę” facebook page.

The Congress was also an opportunity to meet the network’s partners. We exchanged experiences gained while working on our projects. We looked for similarities and further opportunities for exchange and cooperation. We examined how we differ from each other and how this diversity can provide inspiration for further work. Hubs tirelessly debated the events of the IDFA 2011 – the next meeting of the network in November. See you in Amsterdam!

Further reading: the DNN materials at the European Culture Congress.

Association of Creative Initiatives “ę” is the Polish partner the Doc Next Network.

Holiday workshop in Pszów

First holiday workshops of Poland.doc finished in Pszów. Group of young people worked on a joint film project, telling the story of residents of this Silesian town. We watched classic and modern documentaries and practised basic language of film expression. Together, we worked on questions, which were later posed to our protagonists. After a week of intensive work we managed to complete materials for a short film etude. Participants from Pszów will be invited to the official premiere in September.

More photos at the Poland.doc blog

Doc Next Media Collection

This film was made by Pavlos Stamatis (born 1989) from Greece. “This particular film has been influenced by the current situation in my country..”

Doc Next Network is collecting videos, stories, photos and other media art productions of all sorts of young people. With our focus on young, emerging European documentary-makers and opinion-formers, we are building up a broad collection of (alternative) documentaries.

Continue reading →

Technology hero myth?

Nathan Goldberg reminds us that the driving force behind the current popular freedom movements is brave men and women, not the technology hero myth. There was a time when all you had to do to make a revolution revolve was throw yourself in front of a tank or set yourself alight.

Not now. You need to bring a mobile phone at least to the barricades before storming. Smartphone is even better. Then you wave it at the non new media savvy media and before you can say Mark Zuckerberg, be praised, the head of this revolution is Fidel Facebook.

The story now goes that the Arab uprisings unseating the tyrants are successful because of the power of Facebook and its comrade Che Twitter. This is disrespectful, hero myth nonsense, the driving force of the revolution is anger and in many cases tremendous courage of people who are being slain and face death for the sake of a better future, one that many of us take for granted.
Any of the techie journalists and others who are now salivating at the thought of being part of the revolution, thanks to the social networks, albeit from behind a computer scene, are simply having a good old fashioned, vicarious wank.

However, as in all good stories, there is also a truth. It is that the ghastly regimes around the world are on notice. The social media has you covered. Your crimes will never again go unnoticed. There is a new truth out there and it will find you out. And as much as China bans the social media, even its day will come when it has to account for its wrongs against its own people.

Fact, most young people rely on Facebook, Twitter to get their voice heard, the western media is fast becoming surplus to demands. That way their message gets out unvarnished, it’s what they want.
It will not save some of those people from perishing. Yes the truth will out, but as it does the lights will go out in the lives of so many young people, killed by weapons ironically supplied by the arms dealers such as UK premier David Cameron to tyrants around the globe.
If it is important we know who the real heroes of the revolution are, we must also be aware of the villains. All of them.

By Nathan Goldberg, originally published on wowdewow.co.uk.