In rural communities, children have increasingly fewer opportunities to take part in creative, collective activities that offer real alternatives to screen time. There is a clear need for alternative education, contexts in which children are encouraged to move, collaborate, create, express themselves, and discover their own abilities.

The Harap Alb Project responds to this need through a long-term, community-based filmmaking process carried out in nature and within local communities. It provides children with a structured yet playful environment where they can learn through experience. The choice of a Romanian folk tale builds a natural bridge between local culture and the present, helping children reconnect with the stories and values of their own communities.

An essential element of the project is the involvement of the village lacemakers, women who are already important reference points within the community and who have supported the film from the very beginning. The project has been developed so far with their support, as well as with the help of generous partners such as the production team Coca Production Bucharest, who provided their services without charging fees. However, there have been unavoidable costs such as accommodation, meals, props, costumes, and snacks for the children.

Bikeathon represents the necessary step to bring the project to completion and to open it further to other communities.

The project generates real change at both individual and community levels. The children involved develop self-confidence, teamwork skills, discipline, and responsibility. Intergenerational relationships are strengthened through the natural collaboration between children and the village lacemakers, while communities rediscover the joy of gathering around a cultural event created “by and for them.”

In the medium and long term, the project establishes an important precedent: local culture can be alive, relevant, and engaging for children. The film and the caravan create spaces for encounter, dialogue, and reflection, contributing to community cohesion and to the development of a stronger sense of belonging.

Children directly involved in the film production and their families;
Children and young people from the villages visited by the cinema caravan;
Parents and families of the participants;
Local communities across the Făgăraș region.