Start: 2016
End: 2017
Partner: MILANO FILM NETWORK (Italy)
HRVATSKI FILMSKI SAVEZ (Croatia) Organisation active in the organisation of Audiovisual Events
ASOCIATIA CINECULTURA (Romania) Organisation active in the organisation of Audiovisual Events
OTOK, ZAVOD ZA RAZVIJANJE FILMSKE KULTURE LJUBLJANA (Slovenian) Organisation active in the organisation of Audiovisual Events
Action: Creative Europe Audience Development
Summary:
The AREM project was designed to answer to the challenge encouraged by EU of promoting Film Literacy in Europe, by carrying out an “Action-Research” action in 4 schools in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Romania, with pupils aged from 11 to 14. This was deliberately a small-scale and targeted project, and its main objective has been to develop a common methodology for Film Literacy activities in schools, with measurable results and to be adaptable to different contexts: in fact, the overall strategy was intended to combine an exchange between different European local communities (with a certain level of proximity), a scientific-pedagogical experimentation, and the development of specific film literacy tools. AREM project was also intended to promote intercultural understanding by using European films about identity of youngsters in family/society and – in the very end – the possibility of building a shared European citizenship.
Firstly, in a co-design phase between September and December, 2016, all partners have been working together to develop common tools and methodology, based on the Action-Research pedagogical approach and applicable to the different contexts. Representatives of pupils, parents and teachers have been actively involved, according to their availability and the different national scholar contexts, in the creation of tailor-made tools useful to introduce film literacy in class, under the guidance of experts. This approach was especially intended to propose not something pre-determined, but to involve all stakeholders throughout an experiential path. Secondly, this methodology has been implemented and tested between January and May, 2017 on a test class and a control class per each partner. During this phase, 8 short films and 1 feature film have been the subjects of weekly labs with the use of common tools developed during the co-designed phase, in order to guarantee a scientific approach and n online platform (aremproject.eu) has been created as a logbook for every partner, and in the end it was designed also to illustrate all the steps of the action. In the third phase the results of the methodology (through questionnaires) have been measured and evaluated. So, this model will be then available also online to be broadly disseminated, copied and declined in other test groups in Europe.
The involvement of partners has been very important in every stage, from development to final report, as exchange of good practices and also as sharing of different experiences, to reach the European dimension, ensured also by the competence of each association in film literacy. Therefore, on one hand, the action had provided added value to partners’ core activities, but on the other hand, it has also taken advantage of existing national platforms and local networks, which have been actively involved in the dissemination. The expected audience has been reached: the direct beneficiaries – first the pupils and teacher, parents, trainers and experts – has been actively involved and have participated to every stage of AREM project, giving their important contribution to the Action-Research methodology; furthermore, the partners have organized public presentations of AREM in their countries. The impact on the audience has been evaluated and measured (thanks to the evaluation phase) in two senses: towards the pupils, the AREM’s implementation has produced effects on their knowledge of cinema, of European films they did not know, and on their consciousness of being citizen of Europe. The secondary impact has been on teachers as well as on school operators in general, which now have an experimented methodology. This ‘glocal’ project has provided useful data to demonstrate the value of film literacy activities and describe which tools are more or less productive and it has demonstrated concretely that a greater attention has to be paid to the experiences of teachers and to the specific impressions of pupils.
Website: http://www.aremproject.eu/