03 Mar Beginning of the storytelling course in Pernik

It’s almost ten o’clock and the first rays of the February sun are already shining in the garden in front of the United Children’s Complex – Pernik. In front of the building, each person from the RAISE Youth team holds a variety of multimedia tools from yesterday and today’s world, and moves from foot to foot in trembling anticipation.

The young people appear in groups – some heard from a friend, others from a friend of a friend. Some of them traveled from near and far in the early Saturday morning to come to hear and see. Curiosity drives them. They have no expectations, but they want to understand, to know and to be able to.

They are greeted by Stanimira Hadzhimitova – Project Manager. She tells them about the opportunity to promote the place where they grew up, to show all its benefits and beauty to the rest of the world and to create the conditions for a balanced and sustainable lifestyle for themselves and their families.

Fearful hope appears on the faces of young people listening about the RAISE model. There is a small flame in their eyes showing their hope that the place where they were born will shine soon. They are impressed by the idea of them being agents of change – to travel around the area and to tell stories to grab other peoples’ attention and excite the others. To provide you wit

h the opportunity to taste the most delicious yogurt as soon as possible or to show you where herbs your grandmother believes have healing powers are planted…and much more.

Krasimir Stoichkov, a longtime lecturer at the National Academy of Theater and Film Arts and the winner of a number of cinema awards, will help them with all this. At the very first meeting he showed the youngsters different cameras and shooting techniques.

All of them are yet to be introduced to the mystery of effective storytelling – scripting, proper photo composition, colour balance, video editing, as well as useful tricks in each of these areas until they start to turn the ordinary shot into an adventure for all senses!

We can’t wait to see the talent of these 10 young people blossom with the oncoming spring. Their first stories – coming soon!