Youth to learn stop-motion at animation workshop
İKSV Alt Kat, an affiliate of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), is holding a stop-motion animation workshop for young people aged between 14 and 18 in cooperation with the Istanbul Film Festival. The animated short films to be produced with stop-motion technique during the workshop, which will be held online for free from March to June, will be released on social media channels of the Istanbul Film Festival and the YouTube channel of İKSV.
Aiming to increase opportunities for access to and participation in culture and art events, İKSV Alt
Kat has prepared the workshop with the support of the U.S. Embassy to allow young people to get acquainted with the processes of animated filmmaking. The young participants will learn the stop-motion technique and produce short films by using it at the workshop, to be conducted by documentary director and trainer Doğa Kılcıoğlu.
The workshop will focus on the ecological crisis we have been through and the scenarios about the future of the planet on the axis of the question, “What kind of a world will we wake up tomorrow?” It aims to bring creative productions that
participants will make using simple techniques and digital applications to İKSV’s digital platforms.
The workshop will be held in three different four-week periods in March, April and May, and a total of 45 participants will be invited to the workshop, with each period having 15 participants. Istanbul Film Festival Director Kerem Ayan and surprising guests from the cinema world will meet young participants at the online gala, where the selected short films will debut after the workshops are completed in June.
IT is official now. Hakkari, a small province that shares a border with Iraq and Iran, has the lowest number of coronavirus cases. Two weeks after its neighbor Şırnak, this province with a population of about 280,000 has claimed the much-coveted spot, with an average of only 3.21 cases per 100,000 people. In other words, the province now has less than a dozen cases. Hence, it will likely be the first province to switch to the “normalization process” which is scheduled to start on March 1. The process entails the removal of restrictions like full weekend and weekday nighttime curfews and the reopening of businesses like restaurants and cafes which are only serving takeaway currently.
Authorities link the low number to tight measures but certainly, people’s awareness and compliance with measures were more important in decreasing the number of cases. Measures were applied in all 81 provinces but the latest figures published late Tuesday show that people have not been following them. Five provinces in the Black Sea region in the north, dominate the list with more than 200 cases per 100,000 people.
Inspections for compliance with rules were increased when the coronavirus cases surged nationally. Hakkari Governor Idris Akbıyık told Anadolu Agency (AA) yesterday that he was grateful to locals for their support in the fight against the pandemic. “Everyone demonstrated great effort, from health care workers to public agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Security forces’ inspection against violation of rules achieved results. Contact tracing crews also worked devotedly to prevent the infections from spreading,” he said.
As for residents, Akbıyık says people consented to stop hosting wedding parties, attend funerals or pay condolence visits en masse to families of people who died of COVID-19. “They complied with curfews too and this helped to decrease the numbers,” Akbıyık says. Border crossings with neighboring countries, including Iran which has seen a surge in cases before the virus made its foray into Turkey last year, also helped in curbing the outbreak.
“Public authorities, everyone, from health care workers to law enforcement officials and teachers underwent training on how to avoid infections and help people avoid them, in the first days of the pandemic. We educated children about the pandemic and how wearing masks and being cautious on hygiene rules can protect them and their families. Nongovernmental organizations also helped us in inspections to enforce the rules against the pandemic,” the governor said.
Necmi Adıyaman, a local, says people have been very cautious against the virus and they were also grateful to authorities and health care workers for their efforts to curb the outbreak. Adem Çetin, a shopkeeper, says everyone wears masks and follows rules but businesses took a hit. “They can allow us to reopen, at least on weekends, because the number of cases dropped,” he said.
The governor, however, warns against the possibility of a rise in cases. “We hope to remain the number one province in the list of provinces with lowest cases. But this title should not make us feel relaxed. We should continue adhering to rules,” he said.
FOLLOWING a recession year of 2020, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that halted economies worldwide, Hong Kong is now looking toward growth later this year and is set to introduce 120 billion Hong Kong dollars ($15.4 billion) in new fiscal measures to help revamp businesses and residents impacted by the virus.
The measures totaling around – which include tax relief, loans for the unemployed and consumption vouchers – are aimed at stabilizing the economy, Hong Kong Finance Minister Paul
Chan said in a budget speech yesterday. He forecast the economy is set to grow 3.5% to 5.5% this year, compared to the economic contraction of 6.1% in 2020.
The budget for 2021 “aims to alleviate the hardship and pressure caused by the economic downturn and the epidemic,” Chan said.
Unemployed residents can get loans capped at 80,000 Hong Kong dollars in a program that postpones payments for the first year and charges 1% interest. The measures come after Hong Kong last week reported a 7% jobless rate between November and January, the highest since April 2004.
Vouchers worth 5,000 Hong Kong dollars will also be issued in installments to residents to boost consumption. Businesses and individuals will also receive tax relief.
Chan said that Hong Kong’s fiscal deficit is at a record high after the government last year spent 300 billion Hong Kong dollars on supporting measures, including a cash handout to residents and wage subsidies for businesses. Hong Kong in last year recorded in the first quarter its deepest annual contraction since at least 1974.
He also said that mainland China’s economy was “fundamentally sound” despite uncertainties from the epidemic and in U.S.-China relations. Hong Kong, as a semi-autonomous Chinese city, will benefit from this.
“In the medium term, Hong Kong will continue to benefit from the ongoing development of the mainland and the shift in global economic gravity from West to East,” Chan said.