The month of January brought us a new Local of the Month: AEGEE-Berlin showed a movie about AEGEE members’ life and is organising not only an event for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, but also a SU in cooperation with AEGEE-Lviv. The board talks about an exchange with AEGEE-Kyiv. Get more information about this active antenna.

The AEGEEan: After being nominated LoM, present us your local.

AEGEE-Berlin board: For thirty years now, AEGEE-Berlin has stood as an example of our values, most visibly in the broad spectrum of nationalities and cultures present within the members and on our board. We have been through difficult times before, when the antenna struggled, but now this is one of the best times! We are not only a group of students, but also a group of friends.

What can you tell us about the Pulse of Europe event? What are you organising for the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome?

As you might know, #PulseofEurope is an event organised every Sunday until the 12th of March. It is a gathering of pro-Europeans who want to stand up and be active in the fight for united Europe. As young Europeans, we consider it our responsibility to support this movement. That is why not only we have attended but also have taken to the stage to present our point of view. And not for the last time!

Considering the 60th anniversary, we have come together with five other Berlin-based NGOs (not only youth ones), in order to organise a March for Europe in Berlin for those who are not able to travel to Rome.

Which is the feedback for your SUPS, which took place in your city in January?

The SUPS was a very inspiring event with inspiring people. We were lucky to have high quality trainers and also amazing participants. This combination made it very productive and educational. We can not do differently than just to thank them all again for having been here with us.

Did you get successful in showing the movie “The Art of the Possible”? How can people watch it if they missed it?

We did air it, so I would say yes, we were successful and very pleased to have the creator of the movie, Luca Giazzi, personally there to take part in the discussions. For everyone it was a very cosy evening. The second part of the question is more for Luca than us, as he has a plan of publishing the movie.

Are you satisfied with the exchange “If I were in your shoes” with AEGEE-Kyiv? Which was the best moment of the exchange?

More than satisfied. Twenty-six youngsters from Germany and Ukraine got together to discuss the issues that modern Europe has to face and shared their knowledge and experience. The whole event was supported by the EVZ foundation and various other partners. It was a big challenge for us to organise it as it is always risky when you work with grants. Also it was very important for us becasue it showed that we, as antenna, are capable of this kind of performance. We are very grateful to all the organisers and helpers who made it possible and nailed it.

The general topic of our exchange project “If I were in your shoes” with AEGEE-Kyiv was to educate and provide experience of participatory democracy and voluntarism. Thus, on the second day in Berlin we decided to try out something new by sending all our participants in small groups to local volunteer initiatives, where they would not only be informed, but also engaged. One group went to a homeless shelter, where they helped cooking the meals, another one- to a refugee dormitory, where they built up beds. Two other groups visited different places as well.

We have been skeptical at first, but our participants were overwhelmingly moved by the experience, which was a novelty for many. They unanimously agreed on this having been the most transformative and intriguing part of the exchange in Berlin and some have voiced their will to continue such volunteering activities in their home cities. We hope the memories of this event will guide them in the future.

Have you elected a new board? Who are the board members? Can you tell us something about them?

The election of the new board took place at the beginning of January. Now we have five board members from which two are from the last year. They are all very motivated, promising and ready to make our antenna shine. And what is a better start than getting elected for the Local of the Month?

Are there any members who are also active besides your internal events?

We are very proud of the fact that there are. We have two SUCT members, one JC subcommisioner, a CD assistant for communication and a member of the Eastern Partnership project. This year we hope to get even more members interested in the work on the European level.

What are the future plans of your Local?

Besides usual exchanges and local activities, we are all already excited about the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of our local, which will be epic! Of course we are organising a SU in cooperation with AEGEE-Lviv. So save the dates: from the 18th to the 30th of August and just Hakuna Matata. We would also like to repeat the success with the conference and make another one, of course on a different topic. And the most important plan we have is to continue spreading our awesomeness.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Multimedia in AEGEE has been wide explored: we have an annual publication, we have, and had, several magazines, a TV channel and a radio channel. In every Agora, there is some time reserved for promotional videos, and after every Agora and EPM in the past few years we can watch and rewatch the aftermovie. How is it possible, then, that nobody has ever thought to shoot a movie about our organisation? Luca Giazzi from AEGEE-Bergamo  worked on this idea called ‘The Art of the Possible’. Here is what he told us!

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.

Luca: I’m Luca Giazzi from AEGEE-Bergamo, born in 1994. I’m studying Communication Studies at the University of Bergamo, Italy. Video has always been a presence in my life: my grandfather was production manager at RAI, Italian national television, and I’ve always been surrounded by video cameras and films. I began working on this field too on 2012: mostly music videos and weddings. I joined AEGEE in April 2015.

What is “The Art of the Possible”?

The Art of the Possible is a 50-minute-long documentary about some members of our association. It’s a real trip through Europe led by me and my girlfriend Raquel Corbalan to discover seven Aegeeans really different from each other. From the very first day we thought about such a project, we have been very clear: we don’t want to make a TV commercial for AEGEE – she’s been into it for a long time, but for me it was just six months. So we decided only to show what AEGEE means to those members and what they got from it so far.

Why did you decide to create such a documentary?

It’s always very hard to explain to our non-Aegeean friends what AEGEE is. Words are not enough.

What will it talk about?

It’s the real story of me and Raquel going around Europe and giving the chance to a bunch of members to say what they want. Without filters, without anyone to judge them or any previously-made texts: they simply speak up their voices, and there cannot be anything more genuine.

Who are the protagonists of the documentary?

Characters are Jorge Sánchez from AEGEE-Dresden, Anna Smailikova from AEGEE-Kyiv, Philipp Blum and Lucia Gavulová from SUCT, and Benoît Guiche from AEGEE-Toulouse. We’re still looking for other two, we will see. 

How did you choose the interviewed?

Raquel has been in AEGEE since 2010, so of course she knew the right members who could fit into such a project.

Why did you decide to embark on this project?

Being a documentarist is not that easy: most of the time you’ve got a good story but no one who will listen to it, the audience is simply surrounded by too many video contents. When I first thought about ”The Art of the Possible”, it was clear that there could have been some members interested in watching it, even without knowing me.

Do you have a team or work alone? In case you have a team, please present them.

Raquel is the screenwriter – she basically worked on all the structure of the dialogues in the movie. Then there are Giacomo Corpino, audio engineer and composer; Marianna Lipinska from AEGEE-Kraków, fundraising manager; and Victor from AEGEE-Madrid who’s helping out with the shootings done in Spain.

What is the status of the production? What are/will be the phases?

We started working on the project in September 2015, and went shooting the first time on Christmas. Today only 2 people are missing in the movie, then in September we will start working on the editing, audio mastering and color grading.

You launched a crowdfunding on Indiegogo. Why? What will you use the money for?

As you can imagine, making movies requires money. In most cases, you’ll get back that money thanks to cinema tickets and DVDs; but as I told you, our plan is free streaming. I guarantee that we’re doing everything in order to save money but flights, food and insurance are impossible to avoid. Also, I’ve been working on the movie 10 hours per day since March, no matter if it’s weekend or not. For these reasons, we’re collecting money from friends, parents, and we kindly ask the help of every AEGEEan. Of course we know how much they love gadgets, so we’ve made t-shirts, postcards, stickers and many other things you can check on our fundraising campaign, ending on 24th June with a goal of 2500 euros. Today we’re at 65%, if you want to help out you can go here.

When will the film be released?

We’re planning to send the documentary to some indie-movie festivals around the world so it will take a few months before being public, but don’t worry: from the very first day we decided that it would be in free streaming with no limits of time. I’d love to launch it on next AEGEE Day.

How has the reaction been so far?

AEGEEans know that sharing is caring. During the first three days after the release of the fundraising trailer (the same we showed at AGORA Bergamo) we got 10k views, and our official page has been seen by 150’000 people, and they’re still rising!

Do you have any nice anecdotes during filming you can tell us ?

For the shootings in Cologne, Germany I managed to book the flights for two euros, so we decided not to spend more than two euros at time during all the two days on set. Surprisingly, we discovered that there are thousands of things available for cheap!

https://www.facebook.com/taotpmovie/videos/574573869391272/

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona