The
miraculous world of films - nowadays
there are many ways to enjoy it, but the good old-fashioned way is
simply to visit a cinema. And even more fashionable way, however, is
just to order the cinema to come to your home! Kinobuss
(Cinema
Bus) is Cinema on Demand - a
travelling cinema in Estonia!
As
of 2001, Kinobuss
has been working to recreate the local cinema network, to promote and
make local films available to communities, and to introduce
alternative films.
Kinobuss
main activities are:
exhibition (travelling cinema) and distribution; developing film and
media education; providing film and animation workshops / trainings
for youth and school teachers.
The
main purpose is to combine film, media and education by teaching the
language of film and animation or simply - Teaching with film and
animation.
Kinobuss'
selection
of films
consists Estonian and non-commercial world cinema. As the visual
language (film) can be entertaining as educative, our program
contains features, documentaries, shorts, student films etc. Films
will be screened at partner venues including cultural centers, rural
cinemas, and schools.
The
collaboration with schools and youth centers has allowed Kinobuss to
work closely with children and youth.
The aim of Kinobuss'
film and
animation workshops
is to teach the basics of audiovisual language: the elements of a
story, design, directing, photography, editing, and different
techniques using digital video technology (for both home users and
non-professionals). The simple idea is to prove that anyone can make
their own film, no matter how young (or old) they are!
Kinobuss
works with young people with different social and cultural
background, including children with disabilities and youth from
ethnic minority groups. Kinobuss activities support childrens
creativity, expand their ways to express themselves, their thoughts
and views of life, while teaching them new skills. Always ready for
new and exciting challenges in the art of film making, Kinobuss has
been and continues to be involved in several local and international
(EU) projects, including "Kinobuss in Orphanages",
"Kinobuss Against Drugs", "Environmental Education
with Film", "Digital Arts", Teaching with
Animation!, Animated Science, international travelling festival
Moving Baltic Sea and many more.
With
the increase of media education, media classes and film clubs, and
new media, the world of film, animation, and video games - are all
part of the language of modern daily life. For that reason, Kinobuss
also offers film and media training for
teachers to expand their familiarity
with technology (the use of cameras, etc.). Such instruction widens
the teachers' variety of instruction processes and methods, and
introduces the use of film as a teaching tool - i.e., "teaching
with film".
The
best known Kinobuss project is the
summer film festival "Kinobuss is
Coming" which was also the
start-up project for Kinobuss as an organisation back in 2001. But
why would you need a travelling cinema these days? To
understand the need for a modern
mobile cinema, firstly, a short
flashback on the background of Estonian cinema network. The
culture of cinema have always been very popular in Estonia but along
with the re-independence of Estonia the cinema network collapsed,
cinema attendance changed and decreased around ten times. According
to the statistics the numbers were quite frightful - in 1990 the
number of cinemas were 611, in 1992 already 452. By 1997 there were
only 53 cinemas and only 12 of them were operating regularly on
daily-weekly bases. This unfortunate situation was caused by the
increase of cinema ticket price, different new and alternative media
forms, and the growth of enlarged activities.
Kinobuss
is Coming -
is an annual summer film festival which offers people a 2 week long
outdoor event all over the country. Kinobuss screens a varied film
program, offers film and animation workshops and lectures by film
professionals and other cultural activities. In 2006, a "live"
film-concert - a combination of a silent film screening with live
music was introduced to Kinobuss audiences. In 2007 we changed
our concept and turned into a CinemaBoat (KinoLodi) as we took our
equipment, loaded it on a unique one-masted and restored
old-fashioned river barge Lodi (www.lodi.ee).
We sailed on local rivers and lakes and (as far as we know) offered
the world´s first screening
on a boat sail!
Nice weather, no wind and that is all it takes to have a cozy
evening in an open air Sail-Cinema! ;) And in 2008 we visited people not only with our magnificent Bus and
LodiBoat but also with a Train!
Through
the years, Kinobuss has been invited to visit other countries to
introduce Estonian film culture and educate youth in making films! As
of 2003 Kinobuss has visited Latvia,
Sweden,
many times Finland
and two times the USA
(taking part of the Kids Euro Festival ´08 and ´09).
In
2009 we had a magnificent 1,5 month long tour around Europe, starting
from the the Balkans
(Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia&Herzogovina, Croatia
and Slovenia), continuing to Austria
(Linz - the European Culture Capital ´09) , Germany
and ending the tour in Russia
(Novgorod - International Hansa Days ´09). The tour was performed
together with our good friends / sailors from Lodjaselts (Barge
Society) who characterised the events with handicraft workshops and
their wooden VikingBoat.
Even though sometimes people might call our unbelievable-looking ´caravanning´ a Woodstock :) - we are always open for new
adventures and opportunities! Interesting and unexpected solutions
for screening Films and surprising ways to introduce Cinema - that
is US!
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Kinobuss (founded in 2001) is an independent film-organisation (NGO) who has many important tasks in Estonian film scenery:
*to keep the local cinema culture alive in small towns and villages, where cinemas dont exist (anymore) or have been closed down;
*to promote Estonian and European film production;
*to distribute the knowledge of film-making among youth