Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Namibian learners are to participate in the film-making initiative that is aimed at making the learners engage in Namibia’s process of reconciliation through cultural cooperation.
The idea is rooted from the 55-year-old Élysée Treaty that marked the unprecedented development of Franco‐German friendship since the Second World War, during which France and Germany were sworn enemies.
In commemoration of this agreement, the Germans’ Goethe-Institut Namibia and the French’s Franco-Namibian Cultural Centre have rolled out a collaboration involving 50 learners from public schools in Windhoek to foster an understanding of reconciliation in the context of Namibia. The Élysée Treaty was signed on January 22, 1963.
The collaboration involves learners who have German and French subjects as foreign languages at their schools. The selected 50 learners will attend a series of workshops that cover numerous aspects of making a film, from writing a screenplay and shooting to editing and advertising. The film production workshops will introduce learners to techniques of using their smartphones and apply software that is easily available for the project to be sustainable.
“This year’s project of short films takes the process of French and German reconciliation as an example, and through various partners aims to have learners of the German and French languages at public schools understand the process and the important role of culture in reconciliation between the two key members of the European Union. Apart from the film-making skills, we intend to have Namibian learners engage in Namibia’s process of reconciliation through cultural cooperation,” said Goethe-Institut Namibia director, Daniel Stoevesandt.
“The start of the project will be an introduction to France and Germany’s approach for reconciliation after World War I for the Namibian youth to understand the European context of reconciliation before we explore Namibia’s reconciliation through their own stories that will become their film productions. We hope to strengthen learners’ skills and self-confidence,” said Stoevesandt.
The project on short films is funded by the German-French Cultural Fund (CF) that supports and promotes cultural cooperation initiatives in host countries of the French and German cultural agencies and French and German diplomatic missions abroad – French and German embassies.
“The FNCC, as an institution that values cultural exchanges and their importance of creating bridges between communities, is very excited to have been part of the genesis of this project, and looks forward to witnessing the different interpretations the learners will give to their stories,” said Jérôme Kohl, director of the FNCC.