Macedonia Hosts PRIX JEUNESSE Suitcase for the Second Time
For the second time the PRIX JEUNESSE Suitcase visited the capital of Macedonia, Skopje. Again the media organization OXO, supported by the Goethe Institute in Skopje, organized the workshop.
This year, OXO chose a specific subject for the workshop: Scriptwriting for fictional programmes. The workshop was held on the 13th and 14th May, in the Duna Kongress – Conference Hall, located in the very center of the City.Ms Ina Werner, a fiction specialist from the children’s department of ZweitesDeutschesFernsehen (ZDF), Germany, was the workshop consultant.
The field of developing a good script out of a story is a developing story itself in Macedonia. This particular branch in the industry is considered to be quite weak when it comes to knowledge and experience in our TV programmes. Therefore, OXO suggested that the workshop shouldconcentrate onthis field. The workshop was designed for anaudience familiar with the subject and it attracted lots of attention.The participants came from different professional backgrounds, among them directors, scriptwriters, producers, actorsfrom different backgrounds of children’s theatre, students of directing and filmmaking as well as scriptwriting, a PhD in the editing of TV programmes, a team of game developers, animators, illustrators, school teachers and authors of picture-books.
It was an honor to cooperate and to absorb the professional opinions and guidance from an expert like Ms. Werner. Even though the participants had varying knowledge of the subject (ranging from basic to in-depth) in their backgrounds, they each were able to take something new away from the workshop and all expressed how much they enjoyed it. The workshop participants broke up into small groups for practical script exercises which they all find very rewarding. One of the scripts that participants worked on in the framework of the workshop, “The wall which divided the sky” will be realized by some enthusiastic participants of the workshop. The winning team was made up of two students in directing, one illustrator and one animator.
Not only media professional benefitted from the Suitcase stop in Macedonia. This year, the PRIX JEUNESSE workshop was part of “Buff”, a festival focused on children’s movies, organized by the Goethe Institute. During the festival, there was a specific section dedicated to the PRIX JEUNESSE Suitcase for Kids. It was held in the Cinematheque of Macedonia and both days attracted an enthusiastic audience of about 90 children. It is always a privilege as well as a challenge to be part of PRIX JEUNESSE in any possible aspect. These workshops continue to better us in this industry. The cooperation with the festival gives us the courage to continue with our work and efforts as well as the ability to show others how it should be done.
Thank you for this opportunity and we are looking forward to the third Suitcase event in Macedonia.
Liliana Tanceva, OXO, Macedonia