Magic Carpets residency: Marta Elīna Martinsone in Slon, Romania



Latvian theatre and film director Marta Elīna Martinsone spent three weeks in Magic Carpets residency in Romanian village Slon organised by META Cultural Foundation. There she met with local inhabitants, as well as did workshops for children introducing the basics of acting and storytelling.

Marta tells about her experience: “After the first week the artistic idea became clear to me and we staretd to film. I got help from two Romanian artists – Daniel Djamo and Vlad Din who helped me with the technical aspects of filming. I also filmed myself while walking around in the town and capturing everyday moments that later were useful in the editing process. My starting point was the search for national identity, mythologising of history and how important the history is to any nation. In this process it was very helpful to get to know the the local Dacian society (Strajerii Dacii) group who takes care of national heritage of Daci. Eventyually I got more and more interested not only in the local history but also in people who keep it alive. And why it is mostly men who do it? As a result, I made a short film “Eagles and Wolves” that speaks about historical memory, the desire to be heroe, masculinity and all kinds of things that males do in their freetime.

 

Marta’s video work created at the Slon Residency will be included in META Cinema’s selection programs and be promoted and enrolled in national and international competitions. In recent years, the shorts produced in Slon have been selected at prestigious international festivals: CineFestival, Los Angeles (USA) – 2016, Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival (Ireland) – 2016, Festival Corto Corrente (Rome, Italy) – 2016, Bucharest French Film Festival – 2015, 2016, 2017 (Romania), Sundance Film Festival (Utah, USA) – 2016, International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany) – 2018 etc.

A brief interview with Marta about the residency: Interview with Marta Elīna Martinsone on Magic Carpets webpage

The platform and residencies are co-financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.



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