AniMoK

Young filmmakers crossing borders

About 5 years ago, the ANIMOK Animation Festival in Denmark met with the French animation festival Image Par Image - Écrans VO and quickly found common ground for becoming ‘friendship festivals’. We visited each other’s events and shared film programmes and visions on film education. But we wanted more. With a common desire for children to meet through art and culture, we launched a joint film project.

We were aiming for a creative space for pupils from France and Denmark to explore and create one animation together. Of course, the final film was important, but the process and understanding among pupils was ultimately crucial. This was the beginning of a journey, an experiment in how to jointly make a joint film with more than 1,200km between us.

With ‘everyday life’ as our common theme, we formed a framework for the children to explore, enabling them to discover new forms of expression, new ways of drawing and storytelling. Through online meetings we swiftly involved teachers and animators and discussed possible methods and outcomes.

What is on the menu?

If film can achieve one thing brilliantly, it is speaking to our senses, to our memories and imagination. How do other cultures smell, taste and sound? And how to express it? These were elements we wanted to explore?

The first online meeting with pupils was great fun, introducing themselves, trying to recognise each other’s names and faces. Could kids in Denmark and France share the same name? They questioned each other about their daily lives: What is on the menu? What time do you get up? What are your hobbies? They sang each other songs in their own language, which was an exciting way to learn through speaking and listening.

Teachers and animators guided the children in how to work in a creative process, how to create ways of expressing themselves. Children are born curious and have an immediate desire to participate, an urge for creating with others. We held on to this energy that arose in the classroom as soon as they came up with stories and started to work on the animation together.

Candy learning

The Danish class took on the first part of the story. Meanwhile, they wrote each other letters and sent traditional sweets as presents – what a way to learn through taste and smell! All this gave them a feeling of connecting and understanding. When the project ended with an online joint film screening, you could feel the pride and ownership burning through the screen. This small project has meant an incredible amount to us and we are absolutely sure that there is great value in having a friendship festival, instigating children’s encounters with the world through films and pictures.

–

Ditte Lundsgaard Nielsen

Festival partners: Image Par Image ANIMOK

In France: Children aged 7-8, from Jean Jacques Rousseau’s school, Argenteuil In Denmark: Children aged 10-11, from Brattingsborg School, Klejtrup