UNAWE’s short movie “De Dromenkijker “ (The Dreamgazer), a story about seven Dutch children who go on a stargazing adventure, premières at 20:45 on 14 September, at the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leiden. The movie première is part of the festival Nacht van Kunst en Kennis' http://www.nachtvankunstenkennis.nl/.
The short movie was produced as part of a research project into the production of education films that are made for children and with their involvement. The seven children were heavily involved in the production of the movie; during the process they were given the opportunity to have an equal say in all the important aspects of filmmaking and storytelling. The 5-week project saw the children actively discuss and shape a story about astronomy. Together with the director, they decided on the storyline, activities, locations, sounds and aesthetics of the short movie. They then acted in the film together with the amateur astronomer, Petra van der Meijs. A professional film crew shot the film in one day in late June 2013. The shooting took place at a campsite bordering the Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen nature reserve in the Netherlands.
The film was produced by Universe Awareness and directed by Remco van Schadewijk, a master’s student at Leiden University, who is currently doing an internship with EU-UNAWE as part of his specialisation in Science Communication & Society. His interest lies in explaining science through inspirational and powerful story-telling narrative films.
Synopsis
During an astronomy camping trip, children are telling stories around a campfire while they wait for nightfall so that they can go stargazing. When the sun has set and darkness envelopes the world around them, they gaze at the stars in a clearing of the woods, together with an amateur astronomer. The telescope brings the stars closer, but not close enough for them. They would rather be among the stars. As the night progresses, they start to find out this may actually be possible….
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