Filmmaking Workshop #8 – Kobayat/Akkar
Workshop #8
21 – 25 July, 2024
In collaboration with the Cultural Salon and Council of Environment Kobayat
For workshop no. 8 we went to the very north of Lebanon, to Akkar: In Kobayat’s historical Silk Factory, which is now used as a cultural space.
There were five highly-talented and motivated participants, four young women from the region and one young man from Tripoli. In an area with infrastructural challenges and less opportunities e.g in fields of audiovisual studies, this workshop was very welcome and hosted by our local collaborators, the Cultural Salon and Council of Environment Kobayat.
“During the first two days, the most challenging aspect was time. However, under this pressure, I was able to showcase my best work through my footage.” Noor Abdelwahed, one of the workshop’s participants, recalled, “By the end of the workshop, time was no longer an issue, and I was able to adapt quickly.”
“I noticed how some people have the will and courage to adapt to new gatherings or setups.” said Yamama Shkhaydem, another participant, “I usually find it difficult to connect with others quickly, but these individuals intrigued me, and I felt a genuine sense of belonging with them.”
Selected video diaries created during the workshop in Kobayat were shown to the participants and their friends and families at the workshop’s last evening. To honour their engagement and individual talent, each participant was happy to receive their workshop certificate. Challenging norms when sometimes dealing with societal expectations and constraints led some of them to develop influencial and bold film exercises. Like the other TAABIR workshops before, this workshop also brought people and communities from different backgrounds together to show and appreciate their diversity, as each person is unique and has their own individual visual language.
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.
