Young Frooom participants in the jury at the Filem’On film festival in Brussels.

At this year’s 17th International Film Festival for Young Audiences, Filem’On, held from October 25th to November 4th in Brussels, six participants and authors of Frooom! films from Zagreb, Rijeka, and Koprivnica are taking part in the festival’s activities. Through the “Frooom! as Guests” program, they were selected to represent Croatia and Shadow Casters. Alongside them, young people from Poland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium, and Germany are participating in the festival. In addition to serving on the festival’s film jury, they will also act as co-organizers: leading programs, presenting films, and engaging in discussions with directors. They will also prepare, alongside their peers from other countries, the festival’s closing ceremony and participate in various fantastic workshops organized by the festival’s coordinators. Their stay is mentored and supervised by film author and coordinator of the Frooom! film school for children and youth, Mia Maros Živković.

At the festival, Shadow Casters will also present the largest European film literacy project, CinEd, which involves 12 countries, including Croatia, whose selected films have been part of the CinEd platform’s collection for students and teachers across Europe since this fall. The CinEd project and Croatian films in Brussels will be presented by director and actor Boris Bakal, the initiator and founder of the Frooom! interdisciplinary film school, which has been offering children and young people access to the magical world of cinema since 2012.

At Frooom! film school, we greatly cherish good and successful collaborations, but when combined with a successful tradition, you eagerly await that date every year, the date when the Filem’On festival begins. For us at Shadow Casters, this festival means much more than just a festival. Filem’On signifies providing opportunities for young people, giving them tremendous experience for a lifetime, improvement, and what is essential today for every branch of art and every job – networking. Our young film enthusiasts and participants of Frooom! film workshops have the opportunity to be part of an international film festival where they are invited to be part of the teen jury.

Frooom! is a functional film school for children and young people conducted in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Komiža, Koprivnica, Dubrovnik, Pula, Pakrac, Sinj, Gradec, and Prelog since 2012 by Shadow Casters, a multi-award-winning and acclaimed international artistic and production platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, creation, and contemplation of intermedial art. It successfully and seamlessly intertwines international collaboration, film production, theatrical performances, urban intermedial projects, activism, pedagogical work, video art, and curatorial practice into comprehensive artistic activity.

Support for Shadow Casters: EU Media, Erasmus+, Croatian Foundation for Civil Society Development, Culture Nova Foundation, Croatian Audiovisual Centre Support for the Frooom! as Guests program: Erasmus+, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, City of Zagreb, Culture Nova Foundation