Filmmaking means translating one’s experience and ideas into audiovisual material. In our project Shortcut - reframing the city we would like to encourage our young participants to engage in the process and the accompanying reinterpretation of the reality. The cities we have selected for the project constitute places stereotypically associated with lack of opportunities and social exclusion - war-stricken Belfast, post-industrial, devastated Bytom and Lovetch, a city in the North-central Bulgaria where poor economic and cultural situation rimes with lack of opportunities for young people.They are the places where the young participants of our project grow up, fall in love and develop their passions, the sites of life-changing events that often contradict general perception of the region. In our project students will be invited to prepare their own film portrait of the cities they live in and invited to reflect on the more true to life picture of their city’s community - ambitions and dreams of the local inhabitants, their unique ways of coping with everyday struggles and such challenges as covid epidemic. The project will be carried out in partnership with local organisations which work with young people (as one of their target groups). These institutions will support young participants in gaining deeper and thoughtful insight in the life of their neighbours. Their involvement and the type of provided activity will depend on their profile (school, library, museum, youth centre, culture centre, and others) - e.g. schools will be the site where workshops with short films from the Shortcut toolkit will take place, libraries/youth centres places of meetings with other social groups and inspiring activists, culture centres/museums the sites of creative learning of filmmaking craft. On the top of those meetings and training young people will be challenged to complete social-filmmaking tasks in which they will gather additional information, interview inhabitants, work with found footage, and seek for the visual character of the place. This learning experience will be finalised with a summer camp where the existing footage will be completed with young people’s own personal stories and testimonials and edited. The aim of young people will be to create an intimate film portrait of their cities, a creative attempt to counter the stereotype and unveil the invisible face of their environment. Aims: 1. engaging, connecting and empowering young people from stereotyped environments and increasing social inclusion, by: enabling young people to connect with, express their views and be heard by elected policy-makers, public administrations, interest groups, civil society organisations or individuals active in political or social processes affecting their lives; 2. enhancing critical thinking and media literacy among young people to strengthen democracy and counter manipulation, propaganda and disinformation; 3. broadening and deepening political, civic and social participation of young people at local, regional, national, European or global level; fostering active citizenship and solidarity among young people; 4. promoting intercultural and intergenerational dialogue as well as knowledge about and acceptance of diversity and tolerance in society; 5. strengthening young people's sense of initiative, notably in the social field and to support their communities; 6. equipping young people and adults working with young people with the necessary tools, skills and competences needed to come up with creative and innovative solutions to face unprecedented risks 7. unveiling opportunities for creative activities that can be carried out as part of coping with crisis situations 8. linking education, training and youth stakeholders with the cultural and creative sector grassroots organisations - networking for the sake of paving new ways of film education also outside school environment 9. training youth workers in using film analysis and filmmaking as their methods of teaching social competences and citizenship skills Activities: 1. preparation of a toolkit containing educational resources combining film education with social inclusion activities 2. recruitment and work with local partners (e.g. a trio of a school, library, youth centre, or culture centre). Partners support students from the school (7 students per school) in carrying out the tasks. 3. joint staff trainings 4. blended learning for youth (school classes, online meetings and tasks plus a physical meeting in form of a summer camp) 5. completing the toolkit with good practises regarding conducting film education activities outside schools in a network of coordinating organisations. 6. dissemination events in each country
The first goal of the project was to develop instructions for creative activities and exercises to inspire reflection on local culture for all schools and educators wishing to engage and empower young people, preparing them to be active members of society. Another was the development of all those involved: the young people participating in the pilot edition of the project, the trainers and experts of the participating organizations, the recipients of the dissemination events. An important goal was also to initiate the exchange of experience and knowledge so as to develop the resources of the participating organizations, also with a view to long-term future cooperation.
We believe that a school can be a space for the safe exchange of ideas and experiences, catering to diverse needs and aspirations. It can also be an institution with a strong presence in its community that addresses current, real-world challenges and local problems, not only guiding the educational process, but also demonstrating its deep meaning. It is here that young people can develop social sensitivity, a sense of responsibility for the well-being of the natural and social environment, and an awareness of connection with others. The conservative approach to the school curriculum - which currently dominates the education system in Poland and Bulgaria - limits the ability of schools to shape similar competencies. The emphasis on acquiring a designated range of knowledge, a canon of readings and works of art, shapes a very narrow approach to learning detached from the tasks of future members of civil society. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to introduce tools and methods into schools that offer a more open approach to social education. Resources allow the development of critical thinking, creativity, self-reliance and acceptance of diversity. Methodology based on creatitity is such a resource.