Camino a la mar
Directed by Rami Abbas
“Camino a la mar” tells the story of children who decide to embark on an unforgettable journey across the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way, they will encounter other children from different parts of the world, through whom they will learn about the situation of children displaced by wars, refugees in other countries, and the impact of forced exile on childhood. After finding different parts of a world map, they will decide to embark on this adventure to discover their own existence in the world. Navigating the coasts of Italy, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and the Sahara, they will discover the dangers that threaten childhood around the world. Eventually, reaching space in a hot air balloon, they will realize that they cannot distinguish their own countries and can only see a land to which everyone belongs without limits or borders.
This work shop aims to pay tribute to the rights of all the children around the world who have been forced to leave their homes, to lose their families, to experience exile, and ultimately to grow up too quickly.
about this cartoon work shop
We dreamed awake of an unforgettable journey, a place where children could develop their imagination without limits. Thus, since the beginning of 2014, we started this Cartoon Workshop with a group of fifteen children, aged between 6 and 8 years old.
At first, we discussed with the children the origins of cartoons, and explained the meaning of the Workshop so that they could contribute ideas on how to carry it out. We screened some animated short films and thus began to practice exercises related to the principles of drawing and color.
In a second stage, we began to draw and design some of the cartoon characters so that the children could imagine the stories they wanted to tell. Through brainstorming, in a simple and dynamic way, we started creating their own cartoon story.
They brought to life the idea of making an Animated Short Film in which the children would embark on a boat journey across the sea, to explore the world and meet other children from different countries around the Mediterranean. We started writing the script, and ultimately began experiencing that journey together.
After designing the characters, we began to do some exercises to learn the techniques used to achieve the movement of the characters, learning to bring them to life. Thus, in a later stage, the idea would be to record their own voices and see themselves reflected in the ideas they themselves have created. This is a small example of the work to be developed in that stage.
