This project is entitled "Cinema for inclusion: I put myself in their shoes". It is addressed to groups of students aged 16-19 studying art or media subjects. Five partners participate in the project: I.I.S.S. "Luigi Vanvitelli", Liceum Mandoulides School, Georg Otsa nim. Tallinna Muusikakool, Sule M. B. Mtal, and IES Batalla de Clavijo. The project has social inclusion as its main priority. By the shooting of a film/documentary, the pupils learn about the reality happening inside the European frontiers: thousand of refugees arrive at their coasts fleeing from wars, political conflicts, social persecution, or economic difficulties. How to deal with this crucial issue, one of the biggest challenges the EU has faced since its beginning? Each country faces it in a way and this is what the film wants to tell. The objectives are for the students to learn about migration and refugees, and about human rights and laws, to feel empathy for these people leaving their homes and moving into our territories (intercultural skills), to work in a European environment, which is the destination of these people, and understand why it is their destination, becoming aware of the European cultural heritage of democracy, peace, sharing and tolerance, to learn about the different responses to the same problem in different countries, to work in European teams (European awareness) and acquire team skills, to communicate and express through the means of cinema, to improve the level of English of the pupils and teachers, to learn how to accept new students at school coming from different origins with a difficult life story and need of sympathy, to improve education quality relating to coping with diversity. The activities to carry out are those needed in order to make a film. A film is a work of art in which a lot of elements join and interact: images, sound, plot, acting, music, etc. It cannot be done without a well organized team of people, divided into smaller teams but meeting together to put things in common. There is a first meeting of teachers in order to learn the ropes of film making and organise the following work, three other mobilities to each of the partner schools where there is different work to be done, and a final meeting with teachers and pupils for the gathering of all the parts of the film and its launching. The methodology to be used is mainly based on workshops and action, training and working together, learning by doing. The result, film or documentary, is to be shown in schools, festivals, organizations, eTwinning and social networks in order to have the widest dissemination as possible, while the benefits are to be measured in a new way to accept new students at school coming from different origins with a difficult life story and need of sympathy and the improvement of education quality relating to coping with diversity.
This project entitled “Cinema for Inclusion: I Put Myself in Their Shoes” stemmed from the need to respond to the refugee crisis in Europe. The coordinating center, IES Batalla de Clavijo, from Logroño, Spain, launched the project on eTwinning in order to analyze how a refugee population that leaves their country of origin due to dramatic causes is received and welcomed in different European countries. From there, the students would create a documentary film on this topic. The chosen partners were IISS Luigi Vanvitelli, from Italy, Georg Otsa nim. Tallinna Muusikakool from Estonia and Sule Muzaffer Buyuk Mesleki ve Teknik from Anadolu. The objectives of the project were for students to learn what it means to be a migrant and refugee, human rights and the laws that develop them in Europe; to feel empathy for the refugees who arrive in our territory; learn about Europe and its cultural heritage of democracy, peace, coexistence and tolerance; check how this issue is answered in different countries; work in European teams and acquire team skills; communicate through the artistic medium of film; improve the level of English among students and teachers; learn to accept classmates from different countries and empathize with them; improve the quality of education in relation to the acceptance of diversity. The ultimate goal has been a film/documentary product about the physical and psychological routes that refugees have to go through. The priorities of the project are social inclusion, open education and innovative practices in a digital age, and the social and educational value of European heritage. These objectives and priorities have been achieved, since the film/documentary has been made and has been made known not only among the students participating in the mobility, but also in all the participating high schools and through social networks. Several mobilities have been carried out: a first mobility of teachers to the Spanish school to prepare the project and learn how to make a film of these characteristics; a second mobility to Italy, where young refugees have been interviewed; a third mobility to Turkey, where the interviews and first-hand knowledge of the reality have continued, to culminate in the meeting in Logroño, Spain, with the viewing of the film and the meeting between students from the partner centers and refugees . The project was not only aimed at the students participating in the different mobilities, but we involved more classes over three years with various inter-partner activities and others in each center, with NGOs that work on this topic. Long-term benefits: this film and its production have served to raise awareness and learn about diverse experiences of diversity. In addition to the participants, many other people in each school have been able to benefit, and it has even reached institutions such as town halls. The participating refugees have felt cared for and understood because they have been able to tell their story. The documentary will continue to be viewed on the website and in the classrooms of the centers, so that it will continue to have an impact on people. Teamwork with European partners has meant intensive learning for both students and teachers and has motivated the center to apply for a KA121 project, with a view to applying for Erasmus plus accreditation.