Dear Nora!
About the groups' formation – who will travel where in the exchange – this needs to be known just before the exchange will happen. This information is needed because the hosting organisations need the list of the people because of insurance, accomodation and similar things …

I see that you have decided to already begin with the practical field-work. The concrete research themes that you are mentioning are in accordance with our project's themes, goals and ideas. The materials and productions you will make can be of  big help as a ground-work example, as well as contextually and theoretically, for everything that will happen further on in the project and can in the end function also as a part of the ‘big picture’ documentary that is one of the main productions of the project.

These three final productions /printed publication, web page and documentary/ will consist of different contributions in the end – theoretical debates, practical work and methodological approaches through the web page, where the whole project will be transparently presented to the public.

The web page will function as an interactive medium, that will help us to coordinate between each other and to present the project in all on-going phases, as well as – in the end – to be the medium that will connect all other and also present the background of the project.

The publication will – similarly as the web page (but in a more narrow and pin-pointed manner)  – present the theoretical background, round table discussions and opinions of the participants, etc …

And about the video production – Here we won’t hold ourselves back and narrow our work only on the one final production – which is, if we will have the possibility, desired and expected. Probably, during the project, shorter, contextually rounded, experimental or pilot productions will be made / as is now happening in your case. These productions have the possibilities to be edited at the place of filming at that time or could also be edited in the end of the exchange, wherever the authors will be present …
There is a possibility (we will see in which direction the practical and theoretical work will take us) to edit the separate productions as a documentary omnibus. Regardless, some kind of a red line is needed /which is in the domain of the main mentor of the documentary production – Želimir Žilnik/ and the goal is to make a full-feature documentary. This final product will be edited in Ljubljana or in Novi Sad under mentorship of Žilnik – of course all interested authors will be able to explain the materials and to expose their views.

So, to conclude …
The project is of a researchable nature, with a specified concept, in which a big amount of flexibility and improvisation is expected. That also covers the questions of field-work and filming methodology for now …
You have to take into account, that different groups are included in the project – from your crew, that is more film oriented and experienced, as well as the group from Novi Sad, and us from Ljubljana, to the group in Istanbul, which consists mainly of students of inter-cultural studies, which means their contributions will be of a more theoretical and social-research nature. Of course they will be also our logistic support during the exchange in Istanbul, when we will be filming there …
As I said – we will have to adjust ourselves and our work to the circumstances, and capabilities and interests of the project groups and individuals, and also the different spaces, places and problematics which we are yet to face. The challenges will be plenty.

Our biggest advantage is the time that we have ahead of us. It allows us to prepare well and to discuss and solve all the problems and questions that will arise during the realization.

On the website, which is in the preparation phase, you can already find some information about the rough realisation of the project. This plan is always changing and will be regularly updated as we move through the realization.

The first change is the preliminary meeting (February in Ljubljana) – This we have moved to April (around 19th of April) because we can draw funds for this meeting only after April 1st.

Otherwise we can communicate over the internet, where we believe the web-page will be most useful …
About your productions – we can put them on the website the moment they are finished. The same goes fot our productions from Ljubljana and Novi Sad.

Last week we were with Zilnik and Bojan (our website administrator and project co-operative) in Istanbul where we connected with their youth-exchange workers and some groups and arranged the questions of their application for EU – Youth programme. You can find more on the website:
http://www.pozitiv.si/dividedgod/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=38

I also have some questions for you:
- On which date will you apply to the EU Youth Program (Youth Exchange) for the exchange in Berlin at the end of October 2007? The deadlines for application are February (this might be to early), April and June. You will need partnership agreements for the application, so this week I will send you the contacts of all partners.

The partner organisations are:
Kud Pozitiv Ljubljana
Terra Novi SAD
Mladi most – Filmski klub Mostar
Bilgi University Istanbul
Filmarche Berlin

You can find more information about them on the website, and one of these days I will send you the contact information. For the meeting in Mostar, they didn’t confirm our budget – we will most probably finance it out of other acquired funds. We plan the meeting to be held around 1st May, when we will also visit Beograd and Novi Sad.
If needed (maybe at the end of February) me and Bojan (my right hand) could come for a short meeting in Berlin, to discuss the questions. Also probably Žilnik could come …

Anyway, Nora,
Everything is going according to the plan, even better as we have expected. We are getting into the creative phase, and things are starting to build up. Great, don’t you think?

In expectance of your answer,
Best regards!
Drago