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 The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

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. Why? 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)

“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 Teachers Le Concert (2009)

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. European film club pilots Eu cand vreau sa fluier, fluier (2010)

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. Pilots in schools Loufa kai parallagi (1984)

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 Other objectives Committed (2014)