OPEN CALL: Niet Normaal Wants Your FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS!

What is Niet Normaal?

Niet Normal translates in English to Difference on Display. This new work-in-progress from the Netherlands dares to seek and reveal how "normal it is to be different."

Unspoken assumptions color our perceptions when we meet and assess others. Whether we realize it or not we are influenced in various. often unspoken ways by ideas about "the norm."

Through Neit Normaal, artists, filmmakers and other producers are challenging how norms and difference operate in contemporary society. How we construct and adopt ideas about what is normal is examined in the context of today’s culture of perfection, consumerism and the growing interdependence of humans and intelligent technology.

Niet Normaal offers an alternative to the traditionally limited view of "normal" by expanding the ways in which we look at the world and ourselves by making the positive aspects of difference visible. .nietn

Niet Normaal actualizes a world wider and much more exciting then the controlled and so-called perfect societies we sometimes unthinkingly, and desperately, are conditioned to create. By sharing our experiences with others, starting with local and private occurrences at home, in the kitchen, on the streets. Humor and self-reflection have become almost natural instincts to many persons with disabilities, people with chronic illnesses and many more who are considered ‘other’ when measured by accepted notions of "the norm." Niet Normaal gleefully challenges those assumptions.

This call for the funniest home videos seeks to reveal often hidden realities which most ‘outsiders’ don’t dare to laugh. This makes them even funnier. Through humor and shared recognition we can discover the commonalities between disabled and non-disabled people which, in turn, help us communicate with one another.

We are especially interested in funny videos where identities shift unexpectedly and where disabilities, like other differences, are surprisingly made and unmade.

The selected films will be presented on the website of Niet Normaal, which will also be on display at the exhibition space in the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam. Every week, from 21st September 2009 to 25th January 2010 we will select 4 new films, and every week one film is going to be voted “Best of the Week” by the audience, online and at the exhibition space.

On February 8, 2010, a special jury composed by top curators, artists and writers will pick up one winner amongst the “Best of the Week” films. The winning film will be presented at the exhibition hall of Niet Normaal, as part of the general exhibition.

All authors of selected films will receive a double invitation for the exhibition. Winners of “Best of the Week” will also receive the exhibition’s publication. The author of the winning film will receive a digital camera prize.

Here is the link to start the registration and uploading process:

http://www.nietnormaal.org

Niet Normaal will accept any film format, but the maximum length is 4 minutes.

Deadline for sending your films is September 30, 2009

Registration and upload process is quick and easy, and if you have any question concerning this call, please do not hesitate to send an email:

opencall@nietnormaal.nl

We are looking forward to seeing your films!

The team of Niet Normaal.