Frooom!, an interdisciplinary film school for children and teenagers, was founded in Zagreb by Shadow Casters. Frooom! engages participants through discursiveness and interactive learning.
Showing kids the 1952 classic SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN? Risky! Some do love musicals, some hate it. Significant metacinema? Who cares! Agitated, they start an uproar. To calm them down, we must pause and explain, scene by scene. Still being recalcitrant they continue watching. “These were among your grannie’s top ten songs – what’s your list?” The names of Rihanna and Justin Bieber sharpen the attention again. That’s the moment for immersing into the historic transition from silent movie to sound era. For them, it all sounds prehistoric. Are there similar transitions going on today? That question blows their imagination, and we end up with a new script, about a computer music band invited on a prestigious tour, but since they don’t know how to play instruments, they must hire real musicians…
Since 2012 Frooom! invites children and young people to mix fun with education throughout a creative production process. Thus they can enter the world of film beyond the standard viewing experience. Frooom! relies on educational and artistic methods that are significant for the work of Shadow Casters in Croatia and abroad. Boris Bakal: “It’s all about community engagement, new media and participatory performing arts, examining media and shifting the established viewpoints to the problems and challenges of our modern society. We integrate education through experimental work by our interdisciplinary team of experts (drama, psychology, new media, animated film, acting, dramaturgy, film editing…). Empowering youth and laying a foundation for new creative generations through a high quality programme is our goal. In Frooom! there’s a story behind every story. The best plan is to have no plan – and it works! This makes Frooom! a unique media literacy experience in Croatia.”
Pick up a glimpse of Frooom! in this clip.
Contact: bacaci.sjenki@gmail.com; www.frooom.eu.