Dear Twins, Dear readers

I am Marianne, a young french documentary filmmaker, setting on a quest to find and meet up with my « 13 twins ». 13 young women born on the same year i was, 1980, in one of the 13 twin cities of my hometown, Marseille (France). Along my journey to my « twins » on 3 continents, drawing upon our conversations and encounters, i will portray a generation of young women coming from various horizons and cultural backgrounds and question what bounds us to the place we’re from.

13 twins is the transmedia tale of my quest and our encounters.

The story will progressively build up on the internet and in the real world to conclude in 2013 in :

•  an interactive video installation during the European Capital of Culture year in Marseille, coupled with an event celebrating the twins’ 33th birthday and bringing them together,
• the release of a companion standalone interactive documentary.

It will be told on various media platform : the web, smartphones and tablets, interactive video displays, TV, and will comprise three « parts » :

• The quest : I started the search for my twins on my 31st birthday, writing a letter to my then to be found twins, inviting them to get in touch. The letter was published here, on this dedicated web site and on a Facebook page which also presents the project and invites to spread the word. During all of my quest i will keep an online diary where i will develop the themes of the documentary project and track the progress of my search.
• Meeting of the twins : our meeting first takes place in the virtual world of the web, as soon as a twin has been identified and has agreed to take part to the project, she becomes a member of a private online network, much like Facebook, where she, I and the other twins will be able to introduce ourselves to each other and get to know each other a little better. On a regular basis, the twins will be proposed with  personality quizzes and creative challenges around the themes central to the project : being a woman, belonging to the Y generation, being from somewhere. The community site will progressively sketch both the twins portraits and that of a generation of women on 3 continents. Extracts of our conservation (videos, pictures, texts) will be published on this website along with our portraits. I will then go to visit each of my twins to shoot short films cross portraying each woman and her city.
• The twins gather in Marseilles : the journey will end where it started, in Marseille. The city will then be the European Capital of Culture. We will all gather to celebrate our 33th birthday and attend events organized around the release of the interactive documentary and the interactive video installation.

What 13 twins is about

13 twins aims at a better understanding of what it means, for young women of the Y generation, to be born somewhere, in a globalized age. What do we share apart from a common birth year? How are our individual paths shaped or influenced by History and Geography? How do we relate to one another in spite of our diverse cultural backgrounds? In a few words : what do 30 something women share, dream of, experience in Europe, Africa, Asia nowadays?

My first inspiration for 13 twins drew upon the european twin / sister cities movement, an intercultural exchange movement initiated after World War 2 to foster a better and mutual understanding among nations and people through cooperation agreements. The world has changed, the movement has aged but, at least in my eyes, its spirit thrives and its commitment to peace through cultural exchange remains just as important as it once was. I intend 13 twins as a personal tribute to (and revival of) the idea behind the sister cities movement : that of humanity transcending administrative boundaries.

What i’m looking for

I’m looking for all the help i can get to locate and get in touch with my twins : women born in 1980 in all the  cities twinned with Marseilles.

Thanks for your help, hope to ear from you all, twins and friends, very soon !

Marianne