The Taksim Association began as an unofficial group in late 2009 in Turin with the ambition to pool ideas and skills from people with different backgrounds and education fuelled by the drive for cooperation and community with the joint vision to promote cultural and education activities with a strong social dimension.
The idea for FestiLav, the first Italian Workers’ Film Festival, came from the need to give those who wanted to communicate their pain a voice through art in all its forms (cinema, music and poetry).
Taksim is a meaningful word with historical and social weight. “Taksim” is an Arabic word meaning “separation” or “division” which is also an instrumental improvisation using a structural order.
The Taksim Association has the ambitious goal to divide/break down the walls erected by part of society using the language of art in all its forms as it is universally and instantly understandable and palpable.
Taksim is also the most colourful, lively and multicultural neighbourhood in Istanbul which, among other things, reminds us of the oppression which Turkish workers made a stand against on May 1st 1977. Taksim Gezi Park was the scene for protests against government in May 2013.