The Ministry of Culture presented its project this Monday at the Embajadores Río cinemas in Madrid cinema schoolan initiative that aims to integrate into the educational program the presence of students in theaters and the subsequent analysis of the films shown.
The event was attended by 3rd and 4th year ESO students from IES Santa Teresa de Jesús, in the center of the capital. Some of them were very animated before the passage, commenting that cool much more than watching a movie in class. Others weren’t sure where they were going with this, although they hoped the film wouldn’t be too long.
The institute was chosen for this pilot test on the proposal of producers, distributors and operators that Culture is already meeting to deploy the project, which the ministry headed by Ernest Urtasun intends to extend to all centers in the country which request it. next year. 2025-2026.
The screening of the animated film Dreams of robotsby Pablo Berger (who, according to the minister, proposed the idea to him a few months ago), gave the starting signal to a project which is still in its first pilot phase.
“We are very happy to bring children and young people closer to the theaters to create the audience of the future,” Urtasun said in statements to the media. He clarified that the Ministry will itself cover the travel costs to the rooms, while it will partly cover the ticket costs. This last expense will be borne by the rooms themselves, in no case by the centers or the students themselves.
Initiative open to all ages and all centers
The director of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Art (ICAA), Ignasi Camós, also indicated that the initiative is open to public, subsidized and private centers. Also at different age groups. He recognizes that there are still “many details to be resolved”, such as how to integrate the centers or put the tool at their service.
“The idea is that it does not remain an extracurricular activity. We hope that after the screenings there will be one or two hours dedicated to commentary and analysis of the film,” Camós explained. It is not in vain that the projection of Dreams of robots It comes with an educational guide to some of the formal and thematic aspects that the Oscar-nominated film may address.
The president of the ICAA indicated that he had been in talks for months with his French counterpart, the Center National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), which has been developing this initiative in schools in the neighboring country since the middle from the 90s. “The idea is to adapt the project. For example, they recommended a specific age range, but we would like to try a wider age range,” Casadó emphasized.
The selection of works will be carried out by “a small committee”, with the intention that they are feature films from different eras and approaches, although always European and predominantly Spanish. Minister Urtasun announced that the next stages of the pilot project will take place in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona) and in Córdoba, where the films will be shown. Sanctuary And The Professor Who Promised the Sea.
