StrangerFestival
Stranger
International festival for thousands of young people, video workshops, interactive website, DVD, travelling exhibition, Europe-wide debates, video competition... Stranger is video, is young people, is Europe today.
On Thursday night, the festival was set in motion by ECF President, H.R.H. Laurentien of the Netherlands. Friday and Saturday were packed with workshops - 300 young people from all over Europe refining their skills and learning new ones. An expert meeting was also held, involving DEMOS, BBC, MTV and others. The place was positively sizzling with creative energy and encounters.
Saturday night was award night: Maciek Salamon (PL) was announced as the winner of the Official StrangerAward 2008 for his video ‘The Walk'. The members of the jury were impressed by the creative quality of all the videos. Helped by strong press coverage, StrangerFestival gave a strong boost to the intercultural dialogue involving young people across Europe.
Check out the winners and their video's for the different Award categories (MTV, Amsterdam, Audience, etc...) at www.strangerfestival.com, view all particpating video's and those made during the wokshops on YouTube or watch the great pictures of the Festival on Flickr. We also invite you to check the Blog on Labforculture, a look behind the scenes with great personal stories by video maker Javier Garcia & new media specialist Anette Wolfsberger.
Stranger Festival is one of the selected flagship projects for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 (EYID). For more info go to our press section or go to the official EYID website.Our main corporate funder for this event was Boeing.
Amsterdam will be alive with the sights and sounds of our huge 'Stranger' festival of young people's video art from July 3-5, 2008. International and intercultural, this 3-day festival will attract thousands of young people to the city. The festival is the centre-piece of the ECF's ‘Stranger' project, and will include video screenings, debates, masterclasses and workshops. In the run-up to the festival there will be national video competitions, as well as a Stranger website. Outcomes will include a European fund for audiovisual youth expression. 
Graphics by Jules David
The young have an unbelievable amount of potential for positive social change - their fresh and honest take on things could help us all in learning to live with diversity.
Stranger is dedicated to the self-expression and self-empowerment of young people in today's Europe, helping them to show and share their world. By placing individual visions in a large trans-national context, Stranger hopes to encourage a sense of European belonging among young people of very different cultural backgrounds.
The video work will be shown for its intrinsic merits and as a starting-point for debate. It is a debate that is badly needed in a MySpace-and-youtube world of ready communication but little analysis. Young people are everywhere demonstrating their mastery of new media: now is the time to talk about what is being expressed. At Stranger, the debate will be led by young people themselves.
For the individuals who take part, Stranger will be a platform and a learning ground. Their creative skills and intercultural experience will be valued as part of a large and crucial European debate. For the organisations participating or looking on, Stranger will show new ways of working with young people, share skills and experience, and lead to new partnerships.
MORE INFO?
Check the official Stranger website www.strangerfestival.com
Contact ECF : Tommi Laitio or Raya Ribbius, coordinators for the Stranger Festival at the ECF
Press contact at ECF: Mascha Ihwe +31 20 573 38 68
Download background paper, including concept, targeted ourtcomes etc.