The 'Saga' film project by ZimmerFrei will be an amalgam of short documentaries, shot in the Emilia-Romagna region. The second of them, about the urban and local territories in and surrounding Bologna, will be the result of the the workshop 'Atlante', based at Arena del Sole theatre, Bologna.
The participants in 'Atlante' are young people - 14-20 year old boys and girls with diverse cultural backgrounds and from different countries of origin. Likewise 'Memoria Esterna', the workshop 'Atlante' aims at exploring the idea of fear of the others within contemporary society – with the purpose of deconstructing it. As fear is nourished by what is unknown and by distance, reciprocity and proximity represent here the terrain on which the participants discover commonalities and places through their personal experiences whilst developing the creative process of the documentary work.
The people involved in the workshop will produce audio and video recordings and will write and rewrite their conversations in order to turn them into narratives. They will also take pictures and will link them to sounds, drawing and sharing multilayered imaginary and geographical maps.
ZimmerFrei's artistic work focuses on personal events, whether they refer to past, current, or ideal experiences. What matters here is that all these events can become a story and that they can be shared and make people closer, thus beating fear by the means of togetherness.
According to the artistic collective ZimmerFrei, fear can be an instinct, a feeling or an emotion. It makes it difficult for us to deal with ourselves, as we feel we are fragile and surrounded by limits and borders. Fear requires us to react, to change. It initiates the transformative process that makes us turn into someone else, perhaps someone who we seek to be.
By exploring Bologna and its neighbourhoods, the participants in 'Atlante' experience how places are tied up with the people living in and around them and with their own memories. They will discover the city and will tell new stories about it, all together becoming part of the same common space.
Ciak – Pictures by ZimmerFrei
