Film education from the film festival organizers point of view

New Horizons Association

• Established in 2003• Biggest projects:

– T-Mobile New Horizons Int’l FF(14 editions so far)– American Film Festival (5 editions)– New Horizons of Film Education– distribution incl. New Horizons Tournée– New Horizons Cinema – Poland’s only multiplex

with an auteur repertoire

New Horizons of Film Education

• Cyclical meetings at cinemas for school groups

• 40 towns, 170 titles, 38,000 students and 2,500 teachers annually

• Four age groups: 6-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-19

• Interdisciplinary program: film screenings, multimedia presentations, talks, workshops

• Didactic materials prepared by organizers allow for the film education to continue outside the cinema, e.g. at schools or cultural centers

• The program is recommended by the Minister of National Education and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage

T-Mobile New Horizons IFF

• Poland’s largest film festival

• About 100 000 tickets sold each year, app. 380 titles, including 200 feature-length films

• Main goals: presenting bold auteur cinema, both classic

and contemporary and film education

• Interdisciplinary event – there are concerts, exhibitions, installations and theater shows in addition to the film repertoire

• Festival educational activities are directed to various groups: viewers, film critics, young directors and producers, the Polish film industry, teachers and children

Film education at the festival

• Retrospectives: Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Derek Jarman, Bela Tarr, Tsai Ming-liang

• Thematic sections: mockumentaries, midnight movies, focus on cinematography – e.g. Greece, Mexico, Australia, Argentina

• New Horizons of Film Language: costume, special effects, photography, actor, mise-en-scene

• Master classes: Peter Greenaway, Bela Tarr, Andrzej Wajda, Terry Gilliam, Reha Erdem

• Introductions and lectures run by experts and film critics

• Q&As

Children’s film section

• Weekend screenings for the youngest viewers, preceded by a short introduction

• Arts and crafts workshops after each screening

• Select festival editions include animation workshops run by international animated filmmakers

Summer New Horizons Academy

• Teacher workshops – held annually for the most engaged participants of the New Horizons of Film Education project

• 12 workshop days, about 160 teachers

• Program includes lectures and workshops about: – Making features and documentaries– Creating animations– Drama classes as a method of in-depth film discussion– Curator classes, e.g. assembling an exhibition based on

audiovisual materials from the National Audiovisual Institute

New Horizons Studio

• 4-day workshops held annually during T-Mobile New Horizons IFF

• Participants: young film industry representatives – directors and producers at the start of their careers

• Topic: how the international film industry operates in Poland and abroad

• Issues: coproduction, festival strategy, the role of a sales agent, distribution and its alternative forms, pitching of film projects

• Tutors: sales agents, festival programmers, producers, distributors, film marketing specialists, film pitching specialists

Polish Days

• A market of Polish films during the T-Mobile New Horizons IFF

• Target: sales agents, distributors, producers, international festival programmers

• Pitching projects at preproduction stage, works in progress presentations, showing completed films

• Additionally, each year, pitching workshops for Polish directors and producers run by specialists from abroad

Sunday In the Country

• 4-day international workshops for young film critics

• Organized in cooperation with the European Film Academy

• Workshops include: film screenings, discussions, director Q&As

• Goal: to learn about contemporary cinema and its trends, exchange experiences, network with film critics from other countries

NH Publications

• Books and DVD albums that accompany festival sections, e.g. monographs of Jean-Luc Godard, Terry Gilliam, Guy Maddin, Hungarian cinema, Turkish cinema, etc.

• Authors from Poland and abroad: film experts, critics, authorities

• Sometimes our publications are the first on a given topic published in Poland

I watch, feel, think– a report about teens in cinema

• Conclusions:– 72% of respondents claim film taught them to see others

in a different way– 81% of respondents feel films about other cultures help them

to learn more about those cultures– 80% of respondents feel that watching stories about others

helps them learn about the world and themselves– 74% of respondents admit to seeing films that influenced them

powerfully

• Contact with ambitious films is one of the most important factors shaping the personalities and world views of young people