Hansel and Gretel go online: Storyflix – a world of stories on video

18.01.2021 – Hessen, Germany

This Europe-wide project has been created by professional storytellers to keep storytelling alive online during and after the pandemic.

March, 2020, ‘lockdown’ across much of Europe. When we face great tests, what do we turn to for comfort? Music, poetry, stories! But now a giant was standing between the storytellers themselves and their public. Performances were cancelled for the foreseeable future. What to do? Nip between the giant’s legs and go online, of course!” says John Rogers, one of the co-initiators of Storyflix.

Online storytelling boomed and zoomed. Story cafes, clubs and exchanges flourished like never before.  A wonderful gift - to share with other people the courage, hope and wisdom of folk stories that many of us love. But for many storytellers, video was a new medium with new challenges. A few professional storytellers began meeting and exchanging ideas about how to improve digital storytelling.

They asked themselves: how can we present traditional stories from the world’s treasure house of stories in an interesting and attractive way for modern audiences; how can we raise the bar for ‘digital’ storytelling; and how can professional storytellers get rewarded for these contributions when live performances are not possible?

And so Storyflix was born, says Richard Martin, another of the brains behind Storyflix. “We want to reach out to our usual audience and also attract new fans to the magic of storytelling. We provide a platform for storytellers to present the best of their art to a high technical standard and to encourage each other to develop this form of storytelling further.”

“Yes, and to encourage storytellers across Europe to present the same stories – or variations of those stories – in the language and clothes of their own culture,” adds Aurora Piaggesi, the third member of the team behind Storyflix. “Although the main content is free, we encourage participating storytellers to sell Premium Content in the form of extra services such as courses, coaching or teaching materials.”

Storyflix aims to attract storytellers to create their best performances on video and to reach a worldwide audience with the power of stories. For people of all ages, stories of courage, overcoming obstacles, slaying giants and reaching goals are needed now more than ever!

 

European Storytellers Collective
Storyflix is the first project of the newly founded European Storytellers Collective, which supports storytellers active in the field of storytelling on video.
Press Contact: John Rogers

Phone: +49 6667 918769 or +49 176 4388 8658
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