Newsletter December 2019

The importance of images in communication. We live in the age of images, where communication is increasingly conveyed through photographs, illustrations and videos. This happens because images have an intrinsic quality: they have the gift of arousing emotions. Within the communication campaign TAMA 365, created within the AwArtMali project, the images have been and will be used and declined, according to the different tools used: posters, blogs, app and documentary videos.

Images and voices to tell about migration. The project partner responsible for the collection of all the video materials and the production of the documentary is FARNETO TEATRO, one of the most active Italian cultural associations in the artistic and cultural panorama in Italy.

The contents will be built on the basis of the filming done throughout the duration of the project: from the interviews carried out directly in specific missions on the ground; for example, with village leaders and people involved in the information campaign, economic operators, experts and scientific advisers in the field of migration, key stakeholders’ representatives. Many interviews have been carried out on the ground and in jobs places in Europe thanks to the active collaboration of the High Council of Malians abroad in Italy and Spain that have allowed to reach and dialogue with the Italian and Spanish diasporas. These interviews have thus made it possible to collect material, particularly exciting and difficult to obtain; dramatic stories that have allowed us to have at our disposal important material able to tell and communicate the migration reality.

The documentary video wants therefore to tell about migration through the lived stories and voices of who has already undertaken the trip and has told us what happens, what are the passages, difficulties faced, dreams and sufferings experienced in their own flesh. We believe that there is no better testimony than that of the protagonists who have told us their stories: the feelings they felt before they set out, the reasons that drove them to emigrate, what is their present thought of the choice they have made, what kind of life they have now and how much this choice has cost them. But also a way to tell positively how you can succeed in taking paths of real integration or find the chance to grow, acquire skills and competencies so that one day they can put themselves in a project of a dignified and safe life in their own country, for themselves and for their family.

A journey that really brought the crew “into” the lives of people involved in migration with unique and strong experiences, such as the opportunity to interview people who live the reality of rescue at sea as, for example, the ship of the Italian NGO “Mare Jonio” or interviews with migrant workers and people carried out in the first reception centres of Lampedusa or in Italian cities such as Milan.

In addition, the documentary will use new material that will be collected during the theatrical season of the itinerant Caravan, that will cross the villages of Kati during January and February 2020. Thanks to the collaboration of the burkinabé company “Thetre d’evasion”, the performances will follow moments of debate between the public and the communities reached by the Caravan. This will allow to socialize and disseminate all the information on safe migration and possible opportunities in Mali. The documentary can still be enriched with additional entries and content compared to those already produced by the project activities.

“The journey”, dissemination of the documentary video in Africa and Europe.

The documentary video will be disseminated by all partners on different channels, websites, social networks, but also through the tools created within the communication campaign TAMA365 of the AwArtMali project: Facebook, blog, app. It will also be screened in Mali, starting from Bamako and then moving to other cities and villages.

It will therefore be a fundamental tool for documenting the work carried out during the project but, above all, to mark out paths of reflection and awareness about the reality of today’s social problems in Europe, with the intention of generating a new season of commitment for the Malian population and for the stakeholders who will be involved in the continuation of the project, according to its objective is to: to inform about what is needed for a safe life, far away from the risks of wrong choices, increasing awareness that a different future is also possible for the young people of Mali.