Inspiring Democratic Minds through European Cinema

forthcoming

CINEMOCRACY provides an inclusive and sustainable framework to strengthen film education across Europe, supporting innovative and accessible film education activities for young people with a focus on key European values of liberal democracy, human rights and equality. Combining the talents and expertise of five leading European film festivals, we will draw on the richness of European cinema across diverse genres, developing a curated European Film Bank which will form the heart of our film education activities for our key target groups: young audiences, teachers as well as film industry practitioners, including film festival staff. By placing human rights and democracy at the heart of our project, our aim is to use film to equip young Europeans with the skills and understanding to navigate a challenging and increasingly polarised world, and to thrive as confident European and global citizens of the future. Through a stepped approach, guided by a Curatorial Board, we will pilot innovative practice including new digital tools and approaches, support transnational adoption within our partnership and evaluate and disseminate results via Film Education Manuals to capture and share best practice. Results will be disseminated through diverse European film education channels, as well as our partners’ extensive networks across Europe. We will directly engage 29.465 young people in innovative film education activities based on the project’s annual priority themes, and build capacity and expertise both amongst our consortium and further afield through transnational collaboration. Our teacher training series will empower 660 teachers to build confidence and expertise in teaching human rights and democracy through film, whilst our capacity-building training for 750 film (festival) practitioners will seek to strengthen film education and consolidate the position of film festivals as vital cultural hubs well into the future, in light of growing financial and political threats.