Plaza de SVE en Köln (Alemania)

Project environment:

The Filmhaus is set in the city center of Cologne, halfway between the MediaPark and the «Hansaring»-train station. It is located in the building of the former administrative offices of the old freight depot, which was renovated in a joint effort by the City of Cologne and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and is now offered to the local film scene.
Cologne is Germany’s fourth-largest city (after Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich), and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants. Cologne is located on both sides of the Rhine River. The city’s famous Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne. The University of Cologne (Universität zu Köln) is one of Europe’s oldest and largest universities. Cologne is a major cultural center of the Rhineland and has a vibrant arts scene.
31.4 percent of the population has migrated there, and 17.2 percent of Cologne’s population is non-German. The largest group, comprising 6.3 percent of the total population, is Turkish. As of September 2007, there are about 120,000 Muslims living in Cologne, mostly of Turkish origin. Cologne also has the oldest and one of the largest Jewish communities in Germany.

 Proposed activities for EVS volunteers:

Our volunteers will mainly participate in the operation of the house and in the field of education and training. Being a part of the Filmhaus team, they will plan, prepare and conduct events such as film screenings, seminars or courses – including of course the opportunity to participate themselves in any of them.
We want and will make the volunteers equal members of our team of (currently four full-time) employees, where they will participate in weekly team meetings. There, they will discuss and plan their tasks with their colleagues and the management and then execute these tasks increasingly on their own – with of course the full support and advice of the staff and management at any time. So our volunteers grow slowly into the role of full-fledged team members and gradually take responsibility for defined areas such as seminars, training sessions and film screenings.

Volunteer profiles and recruitment process:

We are very open to all types of volunteers – age, gender, nationality, education play no role in our selection. But of course we are looking for volunteers who are interested in our work and for whom the tasks that they can take with us represent a valuable contribution to their personal development. Important are sociability and desire for something new. As our volunteers will not only be in contact with the staff, but also with our audience, language skills are an important asset for the selection. English and Turkish for example play important roles, but also (at least rudimentary) knowledge of German to allow an oral agreement on simple matters would greatly help.
We will announce the volunteer positions completely open, e.g. by the EU database, our website and Facebook page and possibly more unrestricted communication channels. Anyone interested who contacts us will be informed and consulted in detail about his motivation, etc. Those prospects who are highly motivated and thereby appear suitable will be invited to talk with us either in Cologne or via Skype. So, we will try to find those volunteers, for which we see the best win-win situation and who fit best in our team. Any other applicant will receive timely news about our decision – although this will be in most cases no decision AGAINST a candidate, but one IN FAVOR OF another candidate – which then will automatically lead to the rejection of all other applicants as we have limited positions.
We are ready to co-operate with any type of sending organization and will provide all the necessary information available to help them prepare their volunteers to the service with us and take care of them along the way. As we dream of a multicultural team, we believe that we will (have to) work with different sending organizations for every single volunteer as they are only allowed to send volunteers from their country, while our aim is a wider variety of origins.

Risk prevention, protection and safety:

We will provide to our volunteers the same conditions of work that our employees do have. Therefor, we of course respect the German legislation on occupational health and safety. Furthermore we will provide a tutor as contact person, who will care for the volunteer and support him in case of language barriers, organizational issues, problems with the working or living place or other eventualities. We can most certainly talk about all possibly appearing problems and will try to find a solution for them. In case of emergency the volunteer will be able to contact us via cell-phone at any time. Furthermore we guarantee insurance according to the guidelines of the EVS-Program.

Motivation and EVS experience:

We work in a multi-cultural context anyway and among our local volunteers just as among our visitors, there is a high number of people with a migration background. This is a big enrichment to our activities. Unfortunately, the local volunteers often limit the amount of time they want to donate to a very short period, this is why we are looking for possibilities to integrate volunteers on a more stable base. EVS thus seems to us a perfect synergy. This is our first expression of interest and we have never been participating in this program before.

Description of the organisation:

The Filmhaus is for over 10 years the center for cinema culture, media education and filmmaking in Cologne. Originated from a filmmaker’s initiative, the Filmhaus today brings together under one roof a municipal cinema, an equipment rental facility, a restaurant, working and meeting places for filmmakers and the non-profit education and training department organized as the «Filmhaus Köln gGmbH». Almost every day, there are seminars and courses taking place for filmmakers and everyone who wants to become one. The topics range from creative techniques in script development, staging and breakdown to the financing and distribution of film projects to the technical aspects of production and completion and include all departments in front of as well as behind the camera. The focus is on weekend seminars about individual aspects as well as on training courses for several months on specific jobs such as assistant director, production manager, camera assistant, production accountant, screenwriter for daily and serial formas, etc. The Filmhaus Köln is a certified institution under the rules of the German employment authorities, while many courses lead to a final exam and diploma at the Chamber of Commerce.

Description of the project in german:

Europäischer Freiwilligendienst

Das Filmhaus Köln sucht junge Menschen unter 30 Jahren aus ganz Europa (außer Deutschland), die in Köln zwölfmonatige Freiwilligendienste absolvieren wollen. Eigenverantwortlich Arbeiten, neue Ideen einbringen und umsetzen, Erfahrungen sammeln in einem kreativen Umfeld – das alles bieten wir Dir. Ideale Bedingungen, um z.B. im Anschluß an ein Studium praktische Erfahrungen in Deutschland zu sammeln. Unterkunft und Verpflegung werden übernommen, außerdem gibt es Taschengeld, einen Sprachkurs und viele andere Leistungen, denn die Stellen werden im Rahmen und nach den Regeln des Europäischen Freiwilligendienstes vergeben.

Du hilfst bei der Organisation und Durchführung von Seminaren, Workshops und Lehrgängen rund um das Thema Film – von Ferienkursen für Kinder und Jugendliche und anderen medienpädagogischen Angeboten bis hin zu Weiterbildungen für professionelle Filmschaffende und allen, die es werden wollen. Anfangs assistierst Du bei der Durchführung einzelner Maßnahmen und je mehr Du Dich einlebst und sicher fühlst, kannst und sollst Du auch selbst Verantwortung übernehmen, z.B. für die Konzeption eigener Workshops/Seminare, die Pressearbeit und andere Bereiche, die Dich interessieren. Natürlich darfst und sollst Du auch selbst an den Seminaren und Workshops teilnehmen, so daß Du quasi nebenbei eine umfassende Weiterbildung zu allen Aspekten des Themas “Filmschaffen” erhältst. Du arbeitest in einem Team mit weiteren Ehrenamtlichen, mit auf Honorarbasis tätigen Dozenten und mit festangestellten Mitarbeitern und wirst hier in alle Rechte und Pflichten eingebunden – zu denen natürlich auch gehört, unsere Seminarräume etc. in Schuß und in Betrieb zu halten. Da viele Seminare und Workshops an den Wochenenden stattfinden, wirst Du zum Ausgleich freie Tage unter der Woche haben.

Wenn Du Dich für einen Freiwilligendienst im Filmhaus Köln interessierst, schickst Du am besten eine laaaaange eMail über Dich und warum Du Dich dort engagieren willst an efd@filmhaus.koeln. Dabei solltest Du z.B. auf folgende Punkte eingehen:

Wo willst Du im Leben hin? Was interessiert Dich?
Erzähl uns von Deiner Beziehung zu Kino, Filmen und Filmemachen. Welche Erfahrungen hast Du in diesem Bereich?
Bitte erzähl uns von Deinen drei Lieblingsfilmen. Was fasziniert Dich besonders an jedem einzelnen von ihnen?
Hast Du schon einmal ein Filmfestival besucht? Oder vielleicht sogar dabei mitgearbeitet? Bitte erzähle uns, um welche/s Festival/s es sich handelt und berichte von Deinen Erfahrungen!
Hast Du Dich bereits ehrenamtlich engagiert, z.B. in der Schule, im Studium oder in Vereinen? Was genau hast Du da getan?
Welche Ausbildung hast Du? Welche Deiner Kenntnisse, Fähigkeiten oder Fertigkeiten würdest Du gerne im Rahmen des Freiwilligendienstes anwenden und ausbauen?
Wie würde der Freiwilligendienst bei uns Dein Leben beeinflussen? Was planst Du, falls wir Dir keine Freiwilligenstelle anbieten können?
Hast Du bereits Auslandserfahrung? Welche Sprachen sprichst Du und wie gut? Und welche Computerprogramme beherrschst Du?
Wo liegen Deine Stärken? Wobei blühst Du auf? Was kannst Du besonders gut? Und wo liegen Deine Schwächen? Was macht Dir überhaupt keinen Spaß?
Gibt es sonst noch etwas, was Du uns erzählen willst bzw. was wir wissen sollten?
Natürlich darfst und sollst Du auch Fragen stellen – wobei wir uns schon freuen, wenn Du erstmal auf unseren Internetseiten etc. recherchierst. Und ein aktuelles Bild von Dir solltest Du bitte auch mitschicken.

Bitte hab Verständnis, daß wir nicht auf jede Bewerbung sofort antworten können. Wir picken uns diejenigen Bewerber heraus, die uns besonders interessant und geeignet erscheinen und führen mit ihnen Gespräche via Skype. Sobald wir eine Stelle besetzt haben, informieren wir alle Bewerber und zeigen nach Möglichkeit Alternativen auf. Weitere Informationen finden sich

zum Filmhaus Köln unter www.filmhaus.koeln
unsere Interessensbekundung für den EFD unter europa.eu/youth/vp/vol_organisation/6002619804_en
zum Europäischen Freiwilligendienst allgemein unter ec.europa.eu/youth/programme/mobility/european-voluntary-service_en.htm