Gubitosi: “Dream big, join forces because only together can we win.”
The festival is organized by Giffoni, created within the framework of the National Plan Cinema and Images for Schools and promoted by MIC and MIM.
“Choose the path of continuity, dream big, build bridges, join forces because together we grow. In Ceccano I found a beautiful reality: I immediately saw the desire to do, values and love for ideas and culture”. With these words, the director of Giffoni, Claudio Gubitosi, started the second stage of School Experience 3 which, after involving over 4 thousand children and young people from Cittanova (Reggio Calabria), arrives in Ceccano (Frosinone).
The traveling festival is organized as part of the National Plan Cinema and Images for Schools and promoted by the Ministry of Culture - General Directorate for Cinema and Audiovisual and the Ministry of Education and Merit. The event, scheduled from today until Saturday, February 10, is made possible by the collaboration with the IndieGesta association, directed by Alessandro Ciotoli together with the project coordinator Michela Altobelli, as well as the patronage of the city of Ceccano.
“We follow the evolution of the Italian cultural system with great attention and we use cinema to tell stories: the most beautiful and difficult stories of the new generations of this society. – continued Gubitosi – We are present in 33 countries, as well as in all the regions of Italy with our hubs. We are very careful to bring our experience where it is needed. It is easy for us to go anywhere but we want to be where there is a real need, where schools are experiencing great difficulties. The Cittadella del Cinema and the Multimedia Valley were born in Giffoni, we have one of the most advanced incubators for startups in Europe. The last goal is to have a campus in Giffoni too. It will be the last project that I will discuss with the Region and the Ministry. It will be the place to train screenwriters and produce documentaries and animated films”.
And he added: “A clean economy has been created in our territory. Ideas must be loved but not too much, they must walk in service of the community. We must generate happiness, especially when we address young people. I want to thank the schools that are fundamental, because it is with them that we must take care of this generation”.
School Experience wants to use cinema as a means of discovery and teaching, stimulating new visions and perspectives in the public. IndieGesta, in collaboration with the Giffoni team, will coordinate the activities for over 4 thousand students in the province of Frosinone and Latina. They will be the ones to evaluate the feature films and short films in competition, selected from a list of over 1000 productions, dedicated to an audience from 3 to 20 years old and proposed at the Antares Cinema-Theatre in Ceccano.
“Cinema is a wonderful communication tool, it can awaken a critical sense in kids – said the vice-president of the Province of Frosinone and mayor of Colle San Magno, Valentina Cambone – we are honored that Giffoni has chosen our territory, I say this also on behalf of the president Luca Di Stefano. A special thanks goes to the association IndieGesta that with great commitment took care of this event”.
The relationship between Giffoni and the world of education has always existed, just think that the latest editions of the Movie Days - cinema days for schools - hosted 550 thousand students and 37 thousand teachers. Today that commitment is reconfirmed stronger than ever. The event will reach 43 municipalities in 5 regions (Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, Lazio, Sardinia), employing 2.780 teachers and 27.423 students, for a total of 241 complexes and 274 schools.
The press conference to present School Experience was also attended by Bruno Zambardino, head of EU Affairs, Italy for Movies and the National Plan for Cinema and Images for Schools – Ministry of Culture.
“Our goal is to include cinematographic language as an educational tool to be used transversally in curricular paths - has explained - promoting critical understanding of the present, counteracting the spread of communicative distraction, providing the tools to express one's creativity: these are just some of the objectives achieved thanks to the projects funded to date. We have decided to identify international excellences such as Giffoni, which has an additional merit: it goes to work on complicated territories and regions. We are happy to accompany these projects and act as a control room between associations, institutions and schools to increase the effectiveness of this initiative. We are certain that this year too, School Experience will achieve amazing results. For the coming years, we are confident of exporting this model not only in Italy but also in Europe”.
The mayor of Ceccano, Roberto Caligiore, was also enthusiastic: “School Experience brings Ceccano to the forefront of promoting cinema among young people. Thanks to Claudio Gubitosi who created all this, it is a true service to the community. We have often interfaced with Alessandro Ciotoli and as a municipal administration we are trying to give our best. We will continue this journey together”.
The event program includes a competition dedicated to feature films (Feature Experience) and short films (Short Experience) made by Italian and foreign professionals, as well as a competition reserved for works produced by schools or cultural associations divided by age groups: Your Experience +3 (from 3 to 10 years), Your Experience +11 (from 11 to 13 years) and Your Experience +14 (from 14 to 20 years). And two important and innovative labs will give kids and teachers the opportunity to enter the world of cinema. The first, DIGITAL PROF, is part of the activities that School Experience proposes for the training of the teaching staff. The goal is to consolidate the digital skills not only of students but also of teachers, professors and managers. The second, MOVIE LAB, is an interactive cinema lesson to guide young people in understanding the audiovisual language, giving them the opportunity to build a cinematic scene.
The final essay will be the creation of a short movie conceived and performed by the children, who will compete with the conception and production phases of a short film. The project will see the participation of the authors and professionals of the Giffoni video factory. The work will be presented on the final evening of the second stage, scheduled for Friday 10 February at the Cinema-Teatro Antares in Ceccano.
“The friendship with Giffoni was born five years ago – said Alessandro Ciotoli, president of IndieGesta – this is a beautiful land but also a very difficult one. Trying to make this province something more is what we want to do and we owe it to ourselves and to the new generations. In March we have the 18th edition of the Dieci minuti film festival. We too must destroy ourselves to rebuild ourselves, to expand our range of action in places where we have never ventured. We would like to pay even more attention to territories that are in difficulty like Alatri, which unfortunately these days is in the news for horrible events”.
The morning was also attended by the mayors of the municipalities of Patrica, Castro dei Volsci, Anara and Vallecorsa, respectively Lucio Fiordalisio, Leonardo Ambrosi, Massimo Fiori and Anelio Ferracci, as well as the school directors Augusta Colandrea of the IC Ceccano 1, Gennaro Sorrentino of the IC Castro dei Volsci and Francesca Gnagni of the Turriziani and Maccari high school.
School Experience will continue from 26 February to 4 March in Terranova di Pollino (Potenza) and Montescaglioso (Matera), from 19 to 25 March in Nuoro and Tonara and from 17 to 21 April in Giffoni Valle Piana (Salerno), where the project will end with an event hosted in the Multimedia Valley.
Article published by Regina Ada Scarico on February 7, 2023 - 13:58 PM
Leave a comment