Between 12th and 16th of may we attended International Design Week. This was a week that students and professors from different universities met here in Graz and were invited to work with us on a range of different projects. We could choose between 13 different projects lead by 13 different professors. I chose to do the “Design and Culture” workshop with Moses Lugonvo from Uganda. This workshop was about unearthing unity in diversity through design expressions for cultural change. We were to use film as the chosen medium to convey this message, but had pretty free constraints.
The reason I chose to write about the design week, is that it brought a lot of new impressions, thoughts and inspirations. For me, I found it very exiting to work with film with others who was very good at it. I learned a lot, both about film-making, the art of reaching out to strangers, and cooperating with such a big group of people.
For the project, the group decided to collectively make a film about the different cultures you can find in Graz. The motive was to give an impression that the footage is form around the world, when we actually filmed shops with different cultural backgrounds located in Graz. We went out to Turkish kebab shops, Afghan, Nigerian and Indian grocery stores, and others – to talk to the people that worked there about culture.
From going out and trying to make strangers say yes to tell you their story, I learned a lot. It was very difficult to not get an immediate “no”. Then to communicate our project at idea, and also make them comfortable with being on camera. But in between all the hassle, some of the people we asked opened their arms and welcomed us in their stores. We were told stories, we got free drinks and foods, and got trusted by these strangers. It was a very cool experience.
A little teaser of the final film:
What I learned from this project, is how important and valuable it is to talk to people and hear their stories. I also found it very exiting to be working with talented people who knew how to make film (Noah), and to be part of such a cool project! What I also found out, is that 11 people on 1 filmproject, where we do not have definite roles is a lot of hassle. A lot of the time went to discussing and agreeing on ideas – also because only 1 of the 11 had worked properly with film before…
But in total I am very satisfied and have gained a lot I will take with me in my next projects.
