The scond edition of the a
ARCS SUMMER CAMP came to an end on Sunday, July 28, 2019 in Seattle, Washington with a public screening of the films made during the project.
The project is organized by the American Romanian Cultural Society from Seattle, in partnership with the Control N Cultural Society. The camp included 19 Romanian-speaking children from around Seattle, with ages from 8 to 13 years old. The camp took place in the campus of the University of Washington, with the support of the Ellison Center for Russian, East European & Central Asian Studies. The camp had two more partners that were recently attached to the project: UiPath
Foundation and Seattle International Film Festival.
For ten days, the young participants were guided by the two instructors (the actress
Ioana Flora and the film director
Iulia Rugină) and supervised by the actor dancer Toto Horvath (known from the documentary
Toto and His Sisters / Toto și surorile lui)
. They received information connected to the theme of this year`s edition of the camp –
Romanian Role Models – with the purpose of reconnecting them, by means of a non-formal education, to the Romanian identity. Besides learning things about Romania, the children had the opportunity to find out introductory elements from the art of film acting, screenwriting, directing and film production.
The most important products of the camp were the four short films made by the children, organized in teams. The films were written, produced, directed and shot entirely by them and each of them started from one of the analysed personalities: Constantin Brâncuși, George Enescu, Regina Maria, Nadia Comăneci. The viewers of Seattle have the chance to see these films made by the kids because they will be screened during the Romanian
Film Festival of Seattle, which will be organized from November 15 to 17, 2019.
The main purpose of this project started in 2018 is that of culturally reconnecting the children from the Romanian diaspora in America with their country of origin, as Otilia Baraboi, the executive manager of the American Romanian Cultural Society said: “These Romanian-American children deserve to have access to education in their native tongue, inherited from home. These children from diaspora can give a lot back to the country that their parents left from. And I believe that if we all understand that Romania loses and a potential that can be redirected to the country of origin, then we will all win something from the experience.”
The Control N Cultural Association joined this project since the first edition last year, giving it a film orientation, according to its expertise. The film director Iulia Rugină, the executive director of the Control N Cultural Association and one of the instructors of the ARCS Summer Camp says: “The way that we choose and which we are familiar with is the film, because beyond the language, it succeeds in connecting some entities that are apparently different, but which in the end – in this acse – has a common element and that is Romania.”
Details:
www.controln.ro //
www.arcsproject.org //
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