Bonjour from France! My name is Elena and I am doing at the moment an european voluntary service at the organization Aye Aye VO in Nancy. The project is about the organization of the International Film Festival Nancy-Lorraine. My volunteer service takes nine months and so far I’ve been passing five months in Nancy.
The organization of the film festival is a really exciting project and there is always a lot of work to do. For example my tasks include the communication with directors and producers of the films, translations, organization of film screenings for school classes, public relations and promotion of the festival. I also learned quickly, that it is essential to have the necessary energy to watch a lot of movies in a row. As I’m assisting in the selection of the films for our festival, I have seen and evaluated more than 300 short films in the last few months. Moreover, I also had the opportunity to attend a film festival in Wiesbaden, which was a unique experience. Besides the work for the film festival I enjoy a lot living in Nancy. Thanks to the many students, the city is quite lively and there are a lot of activities offered in the evenings. From concerts to salsa nights, art exhibitions and of course the weekly cinema-nights – it’s never getting boring here.
I’m doing my volunteer service together with two girls from Poland and Serbia. We get along very well and try as much as we can to benefit from our stay in France. Therfore we use the weekends for travelling. We have already been doing trips to Lyon, Montpellier, Nimes, Dijon, Bordeaux, La Rochelle, etc… So far the volunteer service is a great experience. I have learned many new things and met a lot of interesting people from all over the world. I’m excited for the following months and I’m already looking forward to the “big final” of my voluntary service, on which we work at the moment feverishly – our film festival, which will take place at the end of August.
Bisous
Elena
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.