Join us for exciting professional development workshops in the FÁGÁȘ project!

From June 24th to 28th, a wonderful group of Cluj-based artists and cultural operators gathered in the scenic Apuseni Mountains! They took part in some fantastic professional development workshops hosted by Reactor, in a lovely partnership with Para Film & Teater (Norway) and Váróterem Projekt (Cluj-Napoca).

The main act of these workshops was all about sharing fresh, exciting methods and tools for working within multiethnic communities, both on the artistic side and behind the scenes in management. Curated with love by our Norwegian partners, the sessions were led by two incredible trainers: the brilliant Gianluca Iumiento (leading the artistic workshops) and the fantastic Ishak Jalimam (guiding the management workshops).

Gianluca Iumiento is a multi-talented Italian theatre and film director, actor, and acting coach. After diving into philosophy at the University of Pisa, he graduated from the prestigious National Film School of Italy, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, under the mentorship of Oscar-nominated actor Giancarlo Giannini. From January 2012 to January 2019, he brought his passion to the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) as head of the acting department, teaching acting and directing. Currently, Gianluca is sharing his magic as an acting professor at the CSC National Film School in Rome, teaching first and third-year students.  Since 2000, he has been lighting up the stage and screen as both an actor and director in various ensemble theatres, festivals, films, and television shows. He even founded and organized two wonderful celebrations of performance: the Metodi Festival in Italy and the Oslo International Acting Festival in Norway! He directed the feature film “NovemberOslo”, and his theatrical plays have graced the stages of some of Europe's most famous venues, including Det Norske Teatret, Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Teatr Polski in Wroclaw, Kilden Teater in Kristiansand, and many others!

Ishak Jalimam is a graduate of the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo, specializing in production and management. He is currently a driving force at the Sarajevo Film Festival as the coordinator for the CineLink Industry Days, where he also coordinates the Dealing with the Past program and heads the festival's exciting educational segment. When he's not busy there, he is producing at the Sarajevo War Theatre! He also serves as the producer for the delightful International Student Theatre Festival: Juventafest, and acts as the technical director for the acclaimed MESS International Theatre Festival. Ishak has worked on many wonderful films showcased at prestigious festivals like the Sundance Film Festival, La Biennale di Venezia, Sarajevo Film Festival, Dokufest, Nashville Film Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, Doxa Documentary Festival, and HotDocs International Film Festival. He is the proud founder and president of Realstage productions, as well as the founder of the Student Association of the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. To top it all off, he is the recipient of the Young Producer Award at the Sofia Film Festival – Sofia Meetings 2020!

These inspiring events took place as part of the joyful project "Fágáș. Multicultural Perspectives – strengthening cultural entrepreneurship in Cluj-Napoca in a Romanian-Hungarian interethnic context." This project is funded through the EEA Grants 2014-2021 within the RO-CULTURA Program, under the call for "Strengthening cultural entrepreneurship and audience development" (Session 3).

This wonderful project aims to foster collaboration between the two theatres and to delight the audiences of Cluj by offering a unified view of the independent Romanian and Hungarian theatre scenes in the city. The project also features two exciting co-productions by Reactor and Váróterem  Projekt, exploring multicultural coexistence. These will premiere in the summer of this year and in 2024. The first co-production will be directed by the talented Ovidiu Caița, and the second by the creative Martin Boross (Hungary).

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The EEA Grants represent the warm contribution of Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the Kingdom of Norway toward reducing economic and social disparities in the European Economic Area and strengthening bilateral relations with 15 beneficiary states in Eastern and Southern Europe and the Baltic states. These funding mechanisms are established under the Agreement on the European Economic Area, which brings together EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway as equal partners in the internal market. In total, these three nations contributed €3.3 billion between 1994 and 2014, and €1.55 billion for the 2014-2021 funding period. To learn more about this fantastic support, visit: www.eeagrants.org and www.eeagrants.ro.

The RO-CULTURA Program is implemented by the Ministry of Culture through the Project Management Unit, with the wonderful goal of boosting economic and social development through cultural cooperation, cultural entrepreneurship, and cultural heritage management. The Program has an impressive budget of approximately €34 million. For more details, feel free to visit www.ro-cultura.ro.