“… that the second time you see something is really the first time. You need to know how it ends before you can appreciate how beautifully it’s put together from the beginning.” (David Gilmour: The Film Club)
What are these courses about? >Teaching Cinema in the Classroom and Beyond< is aimed at teachers and media educators in schools and social institutions, including those involved in adult education but also all those interested in film teaching and film making. To those who are just starting out, who, for example, suddenly have the task of setting up a video club or a project group on the topic of film. But also to those who have already gained some experience with the medium film. Be it that they are already working with film in class – albeit more analytically and theoretically – or that they have already gained some experience with practical film work and now simply want to know more, have better tools, better understand the whole creative process of film making.
In this sense the courses are suitable for all levels of teaching, whether pure beginner, intermediate or advanced. With all this we always ‘sail’ under the premise KISS (Keep it simple, stupid!). More than just technical instructions, TCCB sees itself as a >school of seeing< – and hearing of course! In the end using the term “think film” of the BFI, it will be about learning to think film, in all its facets, with all our senses. With the goal to further develop and improve the film reading and writing skills of our pupils / students / participants.
In our case the order will be the other way round, contrary to the way it is usually taught and handled: learn and improve the film writing ability to improve the film reading ability! Our starting point is Alain Bergala’s >Cinema as Art<: film, cinema as the other. It is not taught, but experienced, beyond the established teaching rules and pedagogical concepts. One can only experience it by doing it, by making films, by gaining experience throughout the entire process.
On the way we will see that understanding cinema has nothing to do with the knowledge of technical terms but with experiencing the creative process, the ability to observe and discover. The goal is to learn how to speak with images and sounds, how to build narrative skills.
A further goal is to broaden our horizon concerning the medium film. The official film canon, the daily television program, Hollywood and Netflix are only a very small part of what film can be. At the end of the day there are endless possibilities to tell a story. But what is a story anyway …
And a warning: we will often look over our >film-fence< and let ourselves be inspired and influenced by completely different topics. This includes the links, films, books and more, which I list at the end of each chapter. I can only recommend that you take the time to have a look at them. It’s worth it! As Jean-Claude Carrière once said:
“Imagination is a muscle that must be exercised daily!”
With that in mind, let’s get started!
The courses are coming soon!