Bulgaria is a country in Eastern Europe (EU member since 2007) that we visited in November/December 2008. We worked together with the Bulgarian Gay Organisation Gemini whose mission is to reach inclusive social environment for homosexual, bisexual and transgender people in Bulgaria. The organisation works for diminishing of all types of legal, social, cultural and economical discrimination and victimisation against lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT). It was the second country we visited with the exhibition Facing Lesbian Lives and the video workhops. It was the first time that we did a training of trainers and now BGO Gemini will be able to use Participatory Video as a tool for empowerment.

Twenty participants can look back on a marvelous job they did: creating eight movies! that cover topics like challenges for same-sex couples due to the current family law and the struggle for equal rights; corrective rape = forced sex to 'cure' lesbians and transform them into straight women; and the right to choose your own partner. Topics that deserve discussion and action to create an inclusive society for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people in Bulgaria. By screening the results during meetings, it might contribute to raise awareness about issues that concern the LGBT-community; on a local level, but on a political level as well.

Results

My so-called future

Family Portrait

Making of part 1

You choose

For your own good

Making of part 2

And 4 shorties...

Shtr^k

Morning glory

Smilies

Baklitsa i drian Live

Skills taught

The participants become a film crew for the duration of the workshop. Through this simple transformation, the group is challenged to develop their abilities, both as collaborators and individual task-masters. Examples of these individual responsibilities include directing, camera-operation, sound-operation, production and acting.

Technical skills in film-making are taught throughout the workshop, such as translating ideas into a scenario, creating a storyboard, operating high-definition video camera, sound capture, interview techniques etc. Given the time constraint of most workshops, editing is done by the facilitators, directed by the participants.

The FLL approach

A central theme to every workshop is to empower people through creative expression and carefully facilitated discussion. This creates a “safe” environment to process difficult issues or to tackle complex topics. Each workshop is different, but invariably brings together a diversity of life experiences, opinions and social backgrounds. The process of working through the subject matter can at times be fun, at other times serious. The important distinction between most educational material and FLL workshop-generated films is that they lend a face to social issues that are often represented in an impersonal way. Because of the way they are created, these films speak a language that people share.

In collaboration with Triangle Project, Facing Lesbian Lives organized a workshop on 'how to make a short movie' in Cape Town in May 2006.

A group of South African lesbian / bisexual women from widely varying cultural backgrounds and aged between 19-42 worked together as a film-crew during three 4-day workshops. The workshops were a challenge to participants to create a portrait in which they could represent personal aspects of themselves and their environment using (what was to most people) the unfamiliar medium of film. The short movies that resulted from the workshops tackle many interesting questions such as what its like to live in Cape Town as a young bisexual / lesbian, who one forms personal relationships with and the freedom to speak about one's sexual orientation. The ‘making of' shorts show the process of the video workshop and the mixture of fun and serious discussion. The workshops are organized with limited means and a high level of improvisation.

Results

workshop 1

workshop 2

workshop 3