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Description
Our project ‘Strengthening the Subject Film/Audiovisual Studies’ in the Czech Republic includes a number of related activities and steps that will lead to the systematic development of a field we consider vital. By submitting this project, the Association follows up on its previous activities in this area, in order to raise more awareness on the subject and prepare ground for the development of the field. We are trying to overcome the absence of legislation, political and professional support for film education, an overlooked subject.
The project partly draws on and expands some of our existing activities we have focused on since our founding in 2017. In planning this project, we are also able to put to good use many years of experience brought by individual project team members and guarantors who have been active in film and audiovisual studies since 2008. The project will also be implemented using the experience from other areas of art education as well as examples of good practice in the Czech Republic and other European countries.
Support and development of film/audiovisual studies also constitutes the main aim and mission of the Association for Film and Audiovisual Education, as defined in its statutes. Our activities will focus on a closer collaboration with organizations involved in film and audiovisual studies; their aim is also to raise awareness on the subject among professionals and the general public.
Our key activities target crucial areas of the subject’s development – research, data collection and analysis in terms of the Czech Republic and European context (includes obtaining know-how in Norway and Iceland), organizing training events dedicated to challenges in the field, areas of interest and related issues (authors’ rights, teaching method, film certification, training workshops for professionals, teachers and organizers, working with the public) and promotion of the field itself reaching out to professional and general public.
Summary of project results
The Association for Film and Audiovisual Education was founded primarily with the aim to expand the film/audiovisual education into Czech formal and informal education and to improve the conditions for the implementation of valuable activities of film and audiovisual education. The aim of the project was to tackle the absence of formal anchoring of such education in our educational system as well as to enhance political and professional support for such education.
One of the main outputs of the project was development and operation of a comprehensive online course in film education, including web adaptation and comprehensive methodological support and worksheets for teachers and other persons involved in education . We also carried out the first full-fledged research in the field of the film/audiovisual education in the Czech Republic, including a manual for further development of the field. We developed examples of good practice from selected European countriesIn in the form of articles, 11 studies and a separate publication. We also carried out an awareness-raising campaign aimed at explaining the importance of film literacy, supported by a video spot and medallions of the ambassadors of the campaign represented by fanous Czech actors, actresses and film directors. Thanks to the results of the sociological survey in schools, the first comprehensive guide to film education for primary schools called Filmouka was published at the end of 2023. We managed to reach out to the professional public, especially teachers and to launch a society-wide debate on the importance of film/audiovisual education with the involvement of well-known personalities. We also opened the dialogue with ministries and succeeded in inclusion of film/audiovisual education among the priorities of the new educational framework.
The objective of the programme (capacity building of professional networks) has been met to the maximum. Member organizations were able to benefit from the project outputs, e.g. by participating in courses and inspiring further work or by directly reaching out to teachers who are the customers of their services. In the long term, it was about starting communication, working out the current state of the field (research) and offering a long-term tool for teaching film (online film courses). The project helped to raise the topic of the need for film and audiovisual education in the Czech Republic, especially among the professional public, and helped to introduce systemic solutions within the field.