Filmmaking workshop #7 – Mtein
28 June – 2 July, 2024
In collaboration with the Municipality of Mtein and Mchikha and the Mtein Museum of Arts
In the summer of 2024, the TAABIR team and the community were quite busy: Three workshops at different locations and the annual screening in Beirut took place within just six weeks.
The start of our ‘summer season’ was workshop no. 7 in Mtein, a beautiful old village in the mountains. In collaboration with the municipality of Mtein and Mchikha, the workshop was held at the Mtein Museum of Arts. Located near the central square, it offered participants the opportunity to discover their village in a new way – and to benefit from the beautiful weather in the mountains.
Most of the participants were locals from the region, but two others also came from Beirut. We learnt that the occasional integration of people from other regions – as in previous workshops – has a wonderful and important effect when people from different backgrounds meet through their common interests and sensitivities.
And the locals also discovered their village with new eyes. “The most interesting thing about this workshop is that you meet new people in your village and get to know new perspectives, even though you are from the same village,” said one of the participants, Yoan Zoghbi. Zoe Abou Nader, another participant, confirmed a similar experience: “This workshop has changed my relationship with my village and made me feel that I can stay here for days to discover new things and meet new people. Everything has changed, even the way I speak to my grandmother here.”
The whole village was happy that this cultural activity was taking place in their village. Being able to take the camera equipment home during the workshops always gives participants the opportunity to discover the camera and use it to communicate their ideas. Although some already had audiovisual knowledge and experience, everyone became more familiar with the camera day by day.
Selected video diaries created during the workshop in Mtein were shown to the participants, their friends and families and the community of Mtein at the workshop’s last evening. A certificate was given to each participant to honour their engagement and individual talent. Many people from the village and passers-by came, showed curiosity and tolerance and, with the great help of the municipality team, the last day of the workshop came to a very joyful and successful end.
The project “Creative Expression through Films” is implemented by elbarlament e.V. and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. Find out more about it here.
