An indigestible apple

by Irene Gozellino



What did you have for breakfast? Did you enjoy the orange juice? Did the cheap and tasty yogurt from the discount satisfy you?
Where all this food came from? If the oranges weren´t from Sicily and the yogurt wasn´t made in the nearest dairy farm, be aware that what happens at the end of the video “Der Apfel” (the Apple) could be your destiny.

Der Apfel is one of the videos made for the “Internationale Sommeruniversität” (the International Summer University), which is hold annually in Karnitz, in the German region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The Summer University takes place simultaneously in Chile and in Germany, as part of a project that aims at the development of audiovisual and verbal competences as well as at the decrease of the “digital gap” among nations. The subjects of the audiovisual products are renewable energies and energy efficiency.

Joachim Borner is the scientific director of KMGNE, Kolleg für Management und Gestaltung nachhaltiger Entwicklung gGmbH (The College for the Management and Design of the Sustainable Development), the Berlin body from which the Sommer University was born.

Why a partnership with Chile?
«This partnership with Chile comes from a history of friendship (date back at the time of Pinochet). It is a friendship with also a political connotation: with Gregory Cohen (director), Carlos Flores (director), Juan Pablo Orrego (alternative Nobel prize), Antonio Elisalde (sociologist), Raul Sohr (journalist), Gabriel Sanhueza (journalist) etc. We sustain each other through mutual encouragement and advice. This is the first reason of our friendship. The second one is the function of Chile as a transfer within Latin America. Starting from Chile, many ideas of participation and sustainable development spread among neighbouring countries. The coherence between ideas and actions is much stronger than in Europe, especially in Germany».

Participants come from different countries and also have various backgrounds. However they were able to shoot, within a very short time, effective and high-quality audio-visual products. In your opinion, how can they find a common way of thinking?
«It doesn’t always happen that, in such a short period of time, diversity becomes reciprocal understanding, through the exchange of ideas, but this is the final goal and it must be pursued. The transformations caused by climate change are quick, so we do not have much time. We therefore have to develop competences that enable us to communicate in an intercultural environment. We would like to understand each other (1. criterion) and to do so by using specific questions, supervisions etc. Developing a common language means working together on the message that is to be communicated (2. criterion). All cultural differences are taken into account – if that does not work, there will be, at that stage, no message».

To find what kind of messages and which new language have been developed by the students of the last Sommer University, take a look at the dedicated canal.