European film club pilots
Tales from the Golden Age (2009),
What are film clubs?
Film clubs have been around since the 1950s and
have operated at a small scale in schools. They
involve regular screenings of curated films from
around the world in schools to groups of children.
From 35mm projectors, to VHS video tape, to DVDs
and now to film streaming, the changes in
technology have made film clubs possible at scale.
More recently film club schemes have developed in
England, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Wales, Sweden
and Scotland.
The UK has the largest network which grew to 7,000
schools by 2013 established by FILMCLUB. Now
called Into Film, the network has grown to over
8,000 and is on course for 15,000 clubs by 2017.
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Why?
The British Film Institute (BFI) stated in 2012 that
“research has established that children who
regularly go to the cinema are three times more
likely to attend frequently as adults”.
The same research found that “children who
watched films reasonably frequently on TV were
more than twice as likely to go”.
Research has also shown that attending a film club
regularly has improved children’s confidence,
motivation to learn and literacy as well as their
communication and critical skills. For many it opens
up to culture for those who may not otherwise have
cultural experiences. It broadens children’s horizons
and understanding of the world.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Children
“Film club is the best thing about school. It’s the
reason I get up in the morning” Pupil
“It has helped with English as watching the films
gives me ideas for stories” Pupil
“You get to watch films you would never have
thought of watching” Pupil
“I think it’s more fun because at home you’re
watching films on your own. But here, we’re like a
family, we can discuss them” Pupil
“I’ve found myself totally immersed in films I’d
probably never have heard of before. And since
then, I’ve decided that what I really want to do with
my life is make films.” Pupil
Black Bread (2010)
Teachers
“They have surprised themselves by enjoying
anything from Bollywood to Laurel and Hardy to
Japanese anime. They have certainly opened their
minds to new things.” Teacher
“Our seasons of world cinema have opened up
new cultures to students and given many others a
taste of home.” Teacher
”It provides a shared cultural experience for some
children who would otherwise have little or no
access to culture” Teacher
“We have noticed a huge improvement in the
speaking and listening skills of the pupils who attend
film club. All the members are now more confident
in school generally” Teacher
Le Concert (2009)
European film club pilots
We have partnered with three organisations to
develop three bespoke pilot programmes:
• Associació Educativa i Cultural Sahrazad in Spain
(especially Catalonia)
• ActiveWatch in Romania
• and Future Worlds Centre in Cyrpus
• with support provided by Film Literacy Europe
These partners will be developing three new models
of film clubs that can test the idea in each nation
for future roll out. They will also be testing, in part,
digital streaming of films to schools as that is the
future.
Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (2010)
Pilots in schools
Each of the three pilots aims to work with primary
and secondary schools, reaching children largely
aged 7-16 in rural, suburban and urban settings (50
schools each in Spain and Romania and 25 schools
in Cyprus).
The film clubs will be run by one or two teachers
and/or parents who in turn will recruit the pupils to
attend the school film club (up to 3,750 children &
young people).
The pilots will involve weekly screenings of films in
participating schools from a specially curated
catalogue often encouraging adventurous film
choices as well as discussing & reviewing films.
Loufa kai parallagi (1984)
Other objectives
• Test new film club models and their potential as a
European models
• Develop a curated catalogue of films (including
a substantial European choice)
• Test licensing and distribution issues and solutions
• Learn from and build on two current MEDIA
supported studies on Showing Films in Schools
and European IP issues
• Evaluate the pilots to identify obstacles as well as
educational, cultural and audience
development impacts
• Use the evidence from the pilots to inform and
advocate for national investment decisions
towards a roll out of the programme to a
significant percentage of schools
Committed (2014)