Filmmaker interview: “I Wish Filmmakers Could Approach PR as Part of the Filmmaking Process”: Agata Burdzy on Festival Publicity2 min read
Reading Time: 2 minutesAthens was the first European Capital of Culture in 1985. For the 2016 title, Wroclaw, Poland and San Sebastian, Spain were both selected four years ago. Since then, various cultural projects and initiatives funded by the European Commission have been developed as both cities prepare for the tourism boosts and international attention in the coming year. One of the biggest arthouse cinemas in Europe called the New Horizons Cinema, for example, opened in Wroclaw as one these projects. And with more developments underway, city pride among local inhabitants, as well as possibilities of discovery for passing travelers, flourishes.
I don’t think that cultural immersion for a passing traveler in a foreign place totally eradicates the outsider feeling. But I do know how the experience of a cultural event can transcend the boundaries of language, of place, and the boundaries of difference. Seeing a play in a foreign language and place can sometimes feel like the closest thing to home. I can best describe the feeling as a combination of “fernweh,” a German word without an English translation, and its opposite, “heimweh,” which does translate in English as “homesickness.” But “distance sickness,” as fernweh’s literal translation suggests, is such a similar experience to heimweh that I think of them more like synonyms than opposites. With both, it’s more about the longing for a place than the actual place itself. I bet there’s another German word to more accurately encapsulate this feeling”¦there are nearly 800,000 people living in Germany right now who I could ask, and not because they speak German. Four-hundred-thousand Ukrainians living in Poland would probably know the same word. About 4 million Syrian refugees worldwide might know this word too”¦it’s doesn’t take just one language to communicate in the experience of foreignness.
Read the full article here>> viaFilmmaker
Image Credit: Filmmaker
