During this entire time technician Rigo has been the operator and by now he knows a few of the films by heart. He is the one who at 7:30am prepares the auditorium and puts on the equipment and air-conditioning. He is also the one who knows exactly which groups of students were well-behaved guests and which ones made a total mess of things by leaving paper, empty bottles, and other trash on the floor, despite the fact that they were warned not to do so before the films started.

 

We were surprised by a telephone call from Bon Futuro. They also got excited after the film screenings at the detention centres in Aruba and St. Martin. So we also spent a morning with detained youth at the prison in Curacao. They saw a few short documentaries from the program and an “Off KidDocs” (non-official) documentary, a long film about the exploitation of Haitian workers on the sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic, which made a great impression.

KidDocs did not stay unnoticed. Lisette Wellens and German Gruber of Caribbean Kids News, news for the youth in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, took some footage and interviewed some guests, that day, the VSBO students of the St.Josef school. The broadcast subsequently aired on TV on 1 February but it can also be viewed right here on our homepage.

See you all at the 7th edition of KidDocs, starting in September.

After KidDocs Bonaire in November, the festival took place at Teatro Luna Blou in Curacao in January. In three weeks time almost 5000 students of the VSBO, HAVO, VWO, and SBO schools saw a selection of documentaries from the program. Those were beautiful days filled with watching busloads of teenagers dressed in different coloured polo shirts enter and exit the auditorium; in anticipation of what they were about to see and impressed by what they had already seen.

 

Emily Kocks, teacher at the SBO in Bonaire has understood exactly what KidDocs is all about and what it consists off. In her “Algemeen Maatschappelijke Kwalificatie” class she did an assignment with six students of the department of Social Pedagogical Work (year 2, level 3). The lesson was about social issues and its causes and effects. The film “Calles de Lima” was the spearhead. The students thought the film was impressive and they fell silent. For their assignment they had to recognise the characteristics of social issues in the film, discuss these, and elaborate on them in a group setting. By using such a film the offered study material became more comprehensible and straightforward; it starts to live more. During the next classes she could still use examples of the film to illustrate certain points in her lesson.

Vianella Martis, Social Worker SGB, liked introducing the films. She prepared intensively for KidDocs. It was very difficult to adapt the class schedule in such way as to make it possible for as many classes to participate, including of course the involved teachers. Because that is the most important thing, by talking about it in the classroom and it doesn’t even matter what subject. They react variably to ‘Imiti Ikula’, a film about street children in the South of Africa. Or it makes a deep impression and after seeing the film it stirs up emotion among audience members because they want to ‘do’ something and they link it to their future vision. Or they start giggling...out of disinterest? ‘I don’t care, it’s happening far from my home’...or because of insecurity? ‘I better not show any emotion in front of my classmates’, in other words, acting cool. A follow up in the classroom by letting them write a personal essay on which film touched them the most, is usually the best measuring tool. Mrs. Helen Hoen, teacher, has noted that they will do this. We will await her evaluation.

Also during recess we showed a few films because some students just couldn’t get enough. In the afternoon the film from the senior programme about street soccer players, ‘Panna’, was shown to two sections of the local detention centre; as a kind of test. Even Marion who supervised the event had to ‘sit’ for 2½ hours behind bars on a concrete floor, but work was allowed during showing of the film. The laptop could be taken along. This is absolutely not allowed at the detention centres in Aruba and St. Martin, but there a chair is available and they do offer you a glass of water.

For some students it was all a bit too much. Too late to bed and then you suffer the consequences… Students lying with their head on the table was a common occurrence not only at the Unicollege, but also at the Scholengemeenschap Bonaire (some 1200 students including 200 from the SBO) where more than 400 students attended the festival for 3 days in two classrooms. For reasons still unknown the HAVO/VWO section cancelled, what was a real pity! Then again the SBO showed much interest but they had not been scheduled into the programme. How we are going to handle this will be noted in an upcoming blog.

In Bonaire the 14 students of UniCollege were the first ones. They even had selected their own varied programme; ‘Panna’ from the senior programme, followed by ‘Chanaika’, ‘Heavy Metal Jr.’ and ‘Lil’A’. It’s clearly a luxury when the school has its own computer classroom with internet connection on all 8 computers. But it does work because they knew ahead of time what the films were about. During the showing of ‘Chanaika’ they were very quiet (just like during all the other films) even though there was a rude comment of ‘girlie movie’ beforehand. ‘Heavy Metal Jr.’ was well-liked. It’s a film that receives very different reactions; from disapproval (by some teachers and students) to great amusement (99% of the students).

Adios Aruba! Until February next year when we’ll return for some 1350 or more Middle School students, High School, and possibly other departments, in celebration of the 10th lustrum of Colegio Arubano. And we’ll take the opportunity to prepare for KidDocs 2010, because then the film festival will celebrate its 1st lustrum. There are several extra activities in the works which have to be planned further. Just like ‘KidDocs to the People’, more public showings at night and open air, both in San Nicolas and Oranjestad, in cooperation with Biblioteca Nacional, Amigoe, and The Cinema’s. On the picture you can see the auditorium by the sea. Imagine it with a full moon...then we have a problem ☺.

Colegio Arubano Pariba and KidDocs have gone to great lengths to make the film festival happen. The Principal, Mr. Johnny Fingal, foresaw that due to the exam period they would have to skip it this year, also because this school has a temporary shelter in the Cas di Arte and the YMCA. Previous years we have been guests in the school building, but now it’s also undergoing construction, hence the aforementioned. Even so the YMCA offers a good alternative and the last opportunity for the entire school to have a chance to enjoy the films is grabbed with both hands; as a special treat after the exams.

Clearly some schools implement KidDocs in their curriculum. An example is the Juliana school. Writing essays, reflecting about the films. At another school they seriously consider starting a school band. The films ‘Heavy Metal Jr.’ And ‘Here I am’ clearly lead up to this. We are curious to see what will happen and we will surely hear next year. Maybe a performance before ‘KidDocs to the People‘ in the auditorium by the sea...? (read further along)

The first students of the Maria College have to endure a bit more to see films. The school has been ‘temporarily’ moved to facilities located at the vacation park in Washington because the old school building was in desperate need of restoration and renovation. But classrooms without air conditioning are not particularly ideal. The ARBO measured the temperature at 37°C and the ceilings fans have no effect whatsoever. The government has promised air conditioning, but that was just before the elections and now there another ruling party. So now they have to wait and see. And in the meantime the CKV classroom is a film oven.

Shaydee and Sindra definitely have something to say about the soccer playing twins from the film with the strange title, ‘Meisjes met jongensdromen’. They found it fun and relatable because they had just started a girls’ soccer team in Santa Cruz. It was easy to form the team itself but first they need to practise a lot before they can play a match. The fearless Dutch twins have definitely given them the courage to go for it. If you want to be able to play soccer well you have to sacrifice a lot and put your heart into it; a lot of training. So girls, go for it!

Shaydee and Sindra definitely have something to say about the soccer playing twins from the film with the strange title, ‘Meisjes met jongensdromen’. They found it fun and relatable because they had just started a girls’ soccer team in Santa Cruz. It was easy to form the team itself but first they need to practise a lot before they can play a match. The fearless Dutch twins have definitely given them the courage to go for it. If you want to be able to play soccer well you have to sacrifice a lot and put your heart into it; a lot of training. So girls, go for it!

Around 240 students of Colegio San Antonio are transported with three Arubuses from Santa Cruz to Oranjestad. It’s a real outing for them; a nice beginning to their week. At 10.00 am they replaced the 1st and 2nd graders of La Salle College who had arrived at The Cinema’s walking one after the other looking like a long snake at 8.00 am. Six full auditoriums. This is a typical day of KidDocs Aruba with an average of 700 extremely enthusiastic Cinema visitors per day. Go ahead and take a look at ‘Kids about KidDocs’ on the website.

After three days in San Nicolas we shift over to Oranjestad. In the meantime it is known that Colegio Arubano will have to pass on KidDocs this period due to the moved exam weeks and this year’s lustrum festivities. It seems that a solution has been found. If possible, 1200 to 1400 elementary and high school students will get their dose of KidDocs between February and March. We are going to work hard to make sure everyone is on board and ready to go.

Just like last year KidDocs was invited to K.I.A., the prison in Aruba. Regretfully there wasn’t enough time; just an hour per group of 12 young boys. KidDocs seems to be well-liked because ‘neutral’ documentary films are shown. There are other films that are shown but these always have religious messages that don’t really resonate with Hindus, Muslims, and people of other religions. We were asked to have a film showing for the adults there. We advised them to increase their archive with more documentary films which are fairly easy to acquire on DVD nowadays. We are quite willing to advise them in choosing.

The Seniors of San Augustinus and Abraham de Veer watched “Afghan girls can kick” together. A completely different world that was shocking at times. But the older kids can take a bit more and later on the program continued with a few more “lively” films where they can let loose and laugh like “Heavy Metal jr.”

There is something going on this year. The audience is remarkably calm and quiet during the film showings. The amount of concentration and attention is intense; hardly if any noise at all, in spite of the fact that they are not really sitting in comfortable ‘lounge chairs’. This was noticeable at the other islands and thus this trend is also present in Aruba. It probably has to do with the programming. You also notice it in the reactions afterwards. They are really impressed. Especially Imiti Ikula and Chanaika are among the favorites. Just like Maré Capoeira and Lil’A.

For well over 2000 students from the schools in Oranjestad and Santa Cruz the doors in Seaport Cinemas are open. The Biblioteca Nacional and The Cinema’s/MetaCorp believe KidDocs is so important for the Aruban youth that they support the festival by making locations and personnel available. This will also count for the upcoming years hereby assuring the continuity of KidDocs on the island.

The festival has arrived in Aruba. Aafke Eymann, KidDocs Aruban supporter has taken care of the preliminaries and the schedule for the schools is done. In two weeks time around 1100 Aruban Kids and Senior Kids from San Nicolas will see the films in the library, at the YMCA, or at school.

A beautiful press release announcing KidDocs on the island was printed both in Curacao’s as well as the Aruban edition of the Amigoe. The next two weeks the festival will be at the San Nicolas library and a few auditoriums of Seaport Cinema’s in Oranjestad. In addition just like in St. Maarten a few showings for temporary adolescent detainees of K.I.A. will take place.

Due to the success of KidDocs at Knip last year Jeanne Henriquez of Museo Tula and Marion Hilhorst of KidDocs decided to organize a ‘KidDocs Special’ for the (young) population of Bandabou during the holiday period in October. Joined by their parents the kids were transported by bus. They sat on the floor and on the edge of their seats for a sneak preview of documentaries about kids from different countries and their passion for ‘Music & Dance’ (this year’s main theme).

In anticipation of KidDocs Kòrsou which will take place in January next year, the yearly documentary film festival was quietly introduced on the island with the first film showing of the 6th edition. At Landhuis Knip inhabitants of Bandabou, young and old, had a chance to witness a few ‘samples’ of the film festival’s program. Due to unpredictable weather it was opted to not go for open air showing but instead choose a venue indoors surrounded by a sense of ancestral presence. The films were introduced by Gwendell Mercelina, who will support the film festival’s production and organization.

To Marion’s surprise Saba also organized ‘KidDocs to the People’. In the Bottom the drum band of Saban youngsters and the ‘Young Saba Culture Group’, made an appearance. That linked up nicely to a few of the films in the program like ‘Here I am’. Unfortunately the publicity took place a bit late and there weren’t much people present. However we also learned from this experience, new contacts have been made and ideas have bring brought forth to make sure next year a superb film festival will be organized. Everard Blackman, the school’s music teacher and an avid film aficionado, has a few historical documentary films about Saba. In addition to the films Marion has in her archive and provided the necessary publicity is taken care off in advance, a large attendance is pretty much guaranteed. We can hardly wait…

 

We were very impressed with the film ‘Afghan girls can kick’. The fact that you live in a country where you could be killed just for wanting to play soccer, is too ridiculous for words. Also the possibility of being beaten up if your clothing (burka) does not cover 100% of your body…

These rules are ridiculously strict and watching this film I don’t think that anyone realized that this goes on in the world we live in. When we hear something in the news about Afghanistan, we will definitely think of this film and those brave girls. Just like Santos, who in his poor situation, can dream of becoming the best soccer player ever. Actually all of the kids in the films have a goal they want to reach, a dream they want to make a reality, and one they’re willing to fight for. You also get the feeling that you want try to help in some way, shape or form. When you see that kids have to work so hard with not much of a future in sight, but even so still try to learn something, yes…, then you would probably want to change things…

 

And then we traveled to Saba where the entire Saba Comprehensive School attended the festival in three sessions in the arts and crafts classroom. This classroom had been quickly transformed into a cinema, complete with a large screen, which was a white table-cloth provided by the principal, Elka Charles, and great quality sound from professional speakers. The school has a school band and they do a lot with music that is why all this equipment was readily available. Here we also met up with Keenan and Brendan, old acquaintances from the 2006 workshop who are still good buddies that drum.

 

 

The final visitors of KidDocs in St. Maarten were a total of 18 students from the Friday School, a so-called Undocumented school. It is the most appreciative and attentive audience you can imagine. The trip to KidDocs is 100% welcomed, because these kids’ school situation is horribly bad and bizarre. It’s a disgrace to Kingdom of the Netherlands that the basic rights of a child are stomped on in such a way.

 

 

Next to KidDocs for students of Secondary Education, and KidDocs to the People, the open air film showings for the general public, there is also KidDocs in Prison. Just like in Aruba the detainees (between the ages of 16 and 24 years) of ‘Pointe Blanche’, the prison in St. Maarten, had two film sessions of an hour and a half each; with sodas and popcorn just like in the cinema. Since each film has a somewhat ‘heavy’ undertone, it was easy for the prison chaplain to hold a mirror in front of the audience, as a matter of speaking, to illustrate the similarities between the audience’s life experiences and what they were shown on screen. By the way, this applies in general to all the entire adolescent KidDocs audience.