FILM:21ST CENTURYLITERACYA strategy for film education across the UK

“WHEN I FIRST SAW‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ IT MADE

A WRITER OUT OF ME.”SALMAN RUSHDIE

We live in a world of movingimages. To participate fullyin our society and its culturemeans to be as confident inthe use and understanding ofmoving images as of theprinted word. Both areessential aspects of literacyin the twenty-first century.

Greg Dyke, BFI

Barbara Broccoli OBE, First Light Movies

Sir Michael Bichard, Film Club

Stewart Till CBE, UK Film Council

Barry Jenkins OBE, Film Education

Clive Jones CBE, Skillset

In the same way that we take for granted that society has a responsibilityto help children to read and write – to use and enjoy words – we should takeit for granted that we help children and young people to use, enjoy andunderstand moving images; not just to be technically capable but to beculturally literate too.

Britain already has what are probably some of the best film educationinitiatives in the world. However, for most young people, if they experiencefilm education at all it is as isolated episodes that lack coherence andconsistency. We want to move film education on from being a series ofdisconnected experiences to becoming an integral part of every youngperson’s life – a systematic process in which confidence and articulacy growby having the opportunity to see a wide range of films, to gain a criticalunderstanding of film and to enjoy the creative activity of filmmaking. Thestrategy set out in this document is a first step on the road.

We want to build a wide and growing partnership with others, working formallywithin the education system and informally outside it; linking with the filmindustry and other cultural partners. Initially we have young people as ourfocus but with a longer-term ambition to reach anyone and everyone. We wanta society where a dynamic film and moving image culture is part of everycitizen’s enjoyment. We won’t achieve that in five years or ten years, but if westart now, we may do it in a generation.

Foreword

From the Chairs of BFI, Film Club,

Film Education, First Light Movies,

UK Film Council and Skillset

What isfilm education?

Film education is making film more accessible to children and

young people for their enjoyment, as a means of understanding

the world and as a medium of self-expression.

Film education:

Provides children and young people with opportunities

to watch a wide range of film - in cinemas, schools and

elsewhere, using new technologies and platforms;

Encourages learning, critical understanding, debate and

conversation about films and the issues and emotions

they raise;

Enables children and young people to use film as a vehicle

for their own creativity, and encourages the film industry to

respect their voices.

What children and young people and their teacherssay about film education:

“Teachers have seen how, starting with film, all childrenregardless of ability, have been able to discuss narrativein a sophisticated manner. The use of film has allowedchildren to learn using a medium with which they feelcomfortable and able to take risks. This allows for higherorder thinking to take place which is then transferable,as well as giving them the tools to understand the media-rich world around them.”Literacy Adviser, West Midlands

“Patience – you need a lot of patience! You need leader-ship skills too because if you’re directing you’ve got to tellpeople what to do… you’ve got to be able to take directionsas well, and criticism, that’s an important one.”Teenager working on their own film

“An amazing piece of work, magnificently directed, byfar the best drama that I have seen in some time. Theshockingly violent scenes force you to wonder how mankindcan act as such savages; killing each other due to mereidentity and belief. Are we humans really so great whenthere are still such atrocities occurring in today's world?”15 year-old student on Hotel Rwanda

“This film is very sad in crying terms because even thoughit is animated, when a rabbit dies or is killed or evenwounded it is so real you feel like it’s real life. This canteach us a lot about life in this world, both nice and nasty.”10 year-old pupil on Watership Down

“I usually do not like films where you have to read subtitles.However I think Tsotsi changed my mind completely. After awhile I forgot I was reading the subtitles and got hooked inthe story. It was moving, watching how people in the thirdworld lived. I thought the acting and the scenery was good,and the film got me intrigued. A good film.”15 year-old student

“I’ve gained enormously from the opportunities to refreshmy thinking on ways in which we can use technology tocreate visual meaning.”Teacher, after a Continuing Professional Development(CPD) session

“This sort of thing doesn’t really happen to our sort, ifyou know what I mean, foster children, ‘cause they’re kindof, not put down but sometimes not given a chance andit’s nice just to have this opportunity to sort of... it’s justamazing.”Young award winning filmmaker

“These screenings give our students a chance to identifyvicariously with people that they might never sympathisewith otherwise.”Head of Film Studies Department on the importanceof cinema screenings for students

Film is an essential and much-lovedpart of the UK’s cultural heritage andone of the most widely enjoyed andaccessible forms of entertainment andartistic expression in almost everycountry of the world. Part of its powerlies in the way it has interacted withand driven the creative evolution ofother long-established art formsincluding storytelling, music and thevisual arts. It has extended its reachfrom the conventional cinema screento a myriad of different platforms yet,whatever the technology, the endproduct remains the same – storiestold using sound and light that moveacross a screen.

What is remarkable is that, despitethese changes, cinema is still acentral driving force and cinema starscommand global recognition as neverbefore. But the significance of audio-visual media is changing profoundly; ithas grown from being a vehicle for artand entertainment to become a corepart of how we communicate and dobusiness. We live in an age when tobe literate means to be as familiarwith images on a screen as with texton a page and to be as confident witha camera or a keyboard as with a pen.Literacy in the moving image hasbecome an integral part of a widerliteracy for the twenty-first century;children and young people need bothto participate fully in society.

All this is widely acknowledged and yetmedia literacy and, more particularly,film education are still on the marginsof national and international policyagendas. By ‘film education’ we meanproviding children and young peoplewith a structured, systematic oppor-tunity to watch films, to understandfilms and even to make films as partof their overall preparation for adultlife. In the UK we are lucky enough tohave some of the best and mostimaginative film education initiatives inthe world, as well as a Charter forMedia Literacy, drawn up by the UKFilm Council and the main broad-casters, which has been adopted bygovernment and is already being usedas the template for action at aEuropean level. However despite thisleadership position, film education inthe UK remains disconnected andinconsistent – a bonus for some luckychildren and young people rather thanan opportunity and entitlement for all.

This document is intended as a firststep on the road to changing thatstate of affairs. The organisations andagencies that have contributed to itrepresent a broad partnership andwant to see the partnership growfurther. For reasons of equity, andpracticality, we have chosen to focuson children and young people under19 years of age in our first phase butthe informed enjoyment of a widerange of film should be the right andexpectation of everyone. We believethat what we map out here can makea positive and practical contribution tothe ‘youth cultural offer’ the govern-ment proposes to make as part of

every child and young person’seducational experience in Englandand strengthen educational develop-ments in Scotland, Wales andNorthern Ireland.

Nor are we talking about yet anothernew initiative to be squeezed into anover-stuffed school curriculum: whatwe propose will make the existingcurriculum more relevant andengaging, and is based on what isalready happening in classrooms,after school or outside schoolaltogether.

Our agenda goes well beyond theplayground walls. There is widespreadconcern about the lack of high-qualityfilm and television content for childrenand young people. But the solutionssuggested in Parliament, the mediaand elsewhere are usually posed onthe supply side of the debate. Westart from the other side – demand –believing that the most effective wayto extend what the industry offers is tohelp nurture a more demanding anddiscriminating audience.

We want to see the evolution of apopular and dynamic film culture inthe UK, building on the rich heritageof British and world cinema andcontributing to an even richer future inthe decades ahead. What we set outhere are the important first steps ofthat longer journey.

Introduction

Film inspires, excites, informs and moves. It has often been

described as the great art form of the twentieth century;

and it has certainly been one of the most popular.

WE LIVE IN AN AGE WHEN TO BELITERATE MEANS TO BE AS FAMILIARWITH IMAGES ON A SCREEN AS WITHTEXT ON A PAGE, AND TO BE ASCONFIDENT WITH A CAMERA OR A

KEYBOARD AS WITH A PEN.

Skillset, the Sector Skills Council(SSC) for Creative Media, is a UK-wideindustry body which supports skills,training and development for peopleand businesses to ensure the UKcreative media industries maintaintheir world class position. Itskey roles in relation to this strategyare in supporting continuingprofessional development, and inmanaging the implementation of theDiploma in Creative and Media.

The BFI, long-established as the mainnational agency for promoting theunderstanding and appreciation of filmand television.

Film Club, piloted in 2007, whichaims to establish a network of 7,000after-school film clubs across the UKover the next three years to dramati-cally increase the opportunities for fiveto 18 year-olds to watch films.

Film Education, funded by the filmindustry, which provides structuredprogrammes for the teaching of filmcriticism and appreciation in morethan 18,000 schools each year andoffers professional developmentopportunities and resources forteachers.

First Light Movies, funding andmentoring children and young peopleaged between five and 19 to makeshort digital films, and now workingwith about 2,000 children and youngpeople each year.

Three National Screen Agencies,which promote the culture andindustry of film and TV in Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland.

Nine Regional Screen Agenciesin England, development agenciescharged with building sustainablemedia sectors and encouraginggreater public access to film culture.

Film education: a snapshot

The UK already has a variety of organisations working in

the field of film education, most of them funded directly or

indirectly by the UK Film Council and together spending

around £12m a year. They include:

There are many other providers offilm education activity includingschools, higher and further educationinsti-tutions, youth workers, comm-unity centres, broadcasters, filmfestivals, independent filmmakers,cinemas and mixed arts venues andlocal authorities.

The list is impressive and thediversity and quality of much ofthe activity even more so. But theprovision is uncoordinated andinconsistent. At the outset of thisprocess an analysis was carried outof activity funded directly andindirectly by the UK Film Council,National Screen Agencies and otherpublic bodies, which highlightedsome of these discrepancies.

The largest share of funding aimedat young people goes to 14-19 yearolds and two-thirds of that is tosupport creative activity, in otherwords, the making of films rather thanwatching them or developing a criticalappreciation. Barely 10% of allspending goes to the promotion ofcritical understanding of film inyounger children (aged three to 14).And the reach, even of UK-wideorganisations such as First LightMovies, is modest; with a budget ofjust over £1 million a year, First LightMovies has worked with 12,000children and young people betweenages five to 19 and funded more than900 films in seven years – an aston-ishing achievement but still onlyreaching a tiny proportion of thatoverall age cohort.

One of the priorities for film educationis to integrate these strands so thatchildren and young people have thechance to watch, to understand and,if they want, to make film – eachelement informing and reinforcing theimpact and value of the others. Weexplore this more fully within thisdocument. When resources areinevitably limited, we feel it isespecially important to deploy themin the most effective and equitableway possible.

Film education is still on themarginsAlthough all four nations of the UKhave space for the study of film andthe media as part of the curriculumfor five to 14 year-olds, in practicevery few children and young peoplebenefit; fewer than one in ten of 14-19 year-olds, for example choose tospecialise in the study of film ormedia. Many of the shortcomings ofpresent practice stem from the factthat, despite the National Curriculumin England and Wales, and positivecurricular developments and theintroduction of new curricula inNorthern Ireland and Scotland, thereis no embedded culture of entitle-ment for children and young people tolearn about film as part of their overalleducational experience. The growingemphasis given to creativity andculture within these curricula, and theproposed ‘youth cultural offer’ inEngland, may begin to shift thisperception; part of our purpose indeveloping this strategy now is toensure that film education, as aconcept, is ready to play a significantand practical role in that process.

There is little professionaldevelopment for teachers andother educatorsA great deal of film education, in orout of the classroom, currentlydepends on the passion and commit-ment of individual teachers and othereducators. However great theirenthusiasm, teachers may feel that alack of specialist expertise diminishestheir professional confidence andtherefore their ability to challenge

and extend the learning experienceof their students. There is a similarlack of systematic professionaldevelopment for youth workers andmedia professionals who choose towork with children and young peopleon education-related projects whetherin cinemas, production facilities orarchives.

There are no agreed teachingapproaches for film educationFor the reasons suggested above,there is little emphasis on offeringchildren and young people sustained,coherent programmes of learningwith clear progression routes, andno systematic means of using filmeducation to explore other, relatedtopics such as intellectual propertyand respect for copyright. Often, filmeducation is merely a disconnectedseries of one-off experiences;although there is a great deal ofactivity around the country, there islittle shared understanding of whatconstitutes good practice or evengood ideas in film education. As aconsequence, there is a weakevidential base for understanding theimpact or reach of film education andno agreed measures for evaluatingits quality.

Wider access to filmsA related issue is the increasingdifficulty of getting access to a broadand varied range of films, especiallyfor younger children. As cinemas andfilm distributors focus more and moreon commercially attractive films, andas competition for audiences drives allbut the most mainstream English-

language films from networktelevision, children and young peopleare unaware of the rich variety andextraordinary wealth of the UK’s filmheritage, even though we have themost extensive film and televisionarchives in the world. Nor are mostchildren and young people aware ofthe enormous wealth of films fromother countries and in otherlanguages, despite living in one ofthe most culturally diverse nationson earth.

At the same time, digital screen-based technologies are opening upgreat new possibilities for filmeducation, as they are in every otherarea of learning, with online accessto resources, the opportunity forpersonalised interactive learning,much cheaper and more accessibledistribution of classic and contem-porary cinema and relativelyinexpensive and simpler productionequipment allowing creative activityof a sort previously unimaginable.

However, a number of recentgovernment initiatives have begunto change the possibilities for filmeducation:

Extended days and community-focused schoolsFrom 2008, many children and youngpeople will be under the care andsupervision of schools for more hoursin the day and will have access to awider range of non-formal educationalopportunities, including the proposalsfor the ‘Find Your Talent’ cultural offer

Immediate challenges

programme which the Governmenthas set out for young people inEngland. Film is a cost-effective,high quality and practical way ofdelivering some of the objectives forextended day provision for schools,children and young people.

New accreditation pathwaysThese include the Creative & MediaDiploma, the Welsh Baccalaureate(BAC), Moving Image Arts and YouthArts Awards. Each of these new formsof accreditation will offer opportunitiesfor an expanded and more diverseexperience of film. For the Creative &Media Diploma this will include work-based learning experiences. TheWelsh BAC and Northern Ireland’sMoving Image Arts awards encouragenew approaches to critical and crea-tive film work, while the Arts Awardhas the scope to accredit children andyoung people for their work with filmoutside formal education.

Personalised, structured andsustained learning opportunitiesThe personalised learning agenda isbeing introduced in England as part ofthe Government’s Every Child Mattersinitiative, which set out five corethemes for effective education –‘being healthy’, ‘staying safe’,‘enjoying and achieving’, ‘making apositive contribution’ and ‘economicwell-being’. This has been enhancedby the recent 10 year Aiming Highstrategy to ensure children and youngpeople gain comprehensive supportfrom complementary activities insideand outside school to contribute totheir learning and well-being.

Film education has the capacity tocontribute to each of these five corethemes in community and schoolenvironments, and to their equivalentsin Scotland, Wales and NorthernIreland, with digital technologyallowing pupils to plan genuinelypersonalised learning pathways andstructured and sustainable learningopportunities.

Better access to archivesThe Government has recently comm-itted an investment of £25 milliontowards a strategy for UK ScreenHeritage. Together with £3 millionalready committed by the UK FilmCouncil for the UK Digital Film Archivethis fund will help secure the future ofregional and national archives for theenjoyment of aud-iences across theUK. The strategy for UK ScreenHeritage states ‘Media literacy andthe use of moving images ineducation has a significant role to

play in educating, both in formal andinformal settings, a truly literatepopulation.’

Coupled with increased digital accessin schools and elsewhere, theseinvestments offer a major opportunityfor rich educational development ofscreen archives.

The Charter for Media Literacywas drawn up in 2005 by the UK FilmCouncil and its partners on the MediaLiteracy Task Force, the BBC, Channel4 and Skillset. It suggested three waysin which a fully active and participatingcitizen would to be able to engagewith media. Although film educationhas a specific emphasis different froma broader and all-inclusive approachto media literacy, the ‘three Cs’ of theCharter for Media Literacy underpinboth.

They are:

Cultural AccessThe opportunity to choose from abroad range of films and so get abetter understanding of our and otherpeople’s culture, way of life andhistory.

Critical UnderstandingThe confidence to look behind thesurface of the screen, to understanda film’s intentions, techniques andqualities.

Creative ActivityThe opportunity to make film andmoving image, to have some under-standing of the technical and creativeprocess that allows the effectiveexpression of a story, a mood or anidea.

In the same way that media literacyis not simply a matter of privatebenefit but an essential ingredient ofthe public good, so we believe thatfilm education is not just aboutextending the private enjoyment andunderstanding of individuals, but hasa clear public value, making a realcontribution to our sense of culturalidentity, emotional articulacy and tothe UK’s future as an open, tolerantsociety built on the foundation of aknowledge economy.

The ‘three Cs’ do not belong inisolation from each other but need tobe brought together in an integratedapproach to film education. Eachelement, while hugely beneficial in itsown right, is made more valuable andmore accessible by its integration withthe other two. If children and youngpeople are to get substantial benefitfrom film education they shouldexperience all three areas and under-stand the relationship between them.

In addition, we believe that there arefour essential principles that givesubstance to this approach:

Participation – everyone involvedFilm watching and filmmaking areboth group activities. This collectiveexperience of watching and makingcan bind together children and youngpeople to give a sense of commonpurpose and community, qualitieswhich we believe must be highlightedin all our future work.

Progression – a learning journeyWe want to provide opportunities forchildren and young people to exper-ience as wide a range of films aspossible, to continually develop theircritical and cultural understanding. Inaddition, we want to encourage aninterest in, and engagement with,filmmaking.

Evaluation – what works best?We want to develop a more syste-matic and integrated approach to filmeducation. To support this, we wantto disseminate good practice anddevelop first class teaching resourcesand learning tools. Most importantly,we wish to establish recognised andaccepted common criteria forevaluating the impact and reach ofour work.

Professional development – howdo we do it better?Linked to the identification and spreadof good practice and recognisedsystems of evaluation, we will committo improving and expanding pro-fessional development for teachersand for other related workers. We wishto explore the development of anapproach which balances creativity,critical ability and craft when we aredealing with children and youngpeople.

We have now set out the challenges,opportunities and principles behindour thinking. In the next section we layout what we are going to do.

Themes of the strategy

Having set out the challenges and opportunities for film

education in the UK, we outline here the ‘operating principles’

for the strategy we propose to adopt.

Aims of the strategy

Our vision is to ensure that all young people in the UK have the

opportunity to learn about film in all its richness and creative

possibilities. To achieve this, we have set ourselves two

strategic aims, one structural, the other focusing on innovation.

Enhancing

current activity

Innovative

new activity

Ensure that the priorities of filmorganisations in the public sector arealigned with the principles of filmeducation.

Create a UK-wide network of keyproviders of film education to sharebest practice, promote knowledgeand ideas, advocate and promote filmeducation. The network will maintainan open access database of edu-cation providers throughout the UK.Additionally, a national conference willbe organised for the network to meetand exchange ideas in early 2009 andwill meet on a regular basis after that.

Create new regional partnerships offilm education providers that willenable significant new investment intofilm education.

Develop an infrastructure thatenables children and young people toaccess a wider range of film content,in school, in cinemas and via otherplatforms.

Invest in an expansion of onlinelearning resources, especially thosethat introduce young people to theUK’s film archive heritage, and to newfilms made with public money in theUK.

Establish a coherent andcomprehensive programme of trainingand development for those involved infilm education, accredited by Skillsetand others. The programme will bemanaged through the regional andnational partnerships, and there willbe a national framework to ensurequality of provision.

Use new learning routes as oppor-tunities for expanding film education(including such pathways as Creative& Media Diploma, the Welsh BAC,Youth Arts Award, Moving Image Arts).

Run regular advocacy campaignsaimed at employers, the film industry,general public, policy makers,broadcasters and education providersto persuade them of the value of filmeducation. Such campaigns will behigh impact and will start in 2008 withFilm and Video Nation, a UK-wideinitiative to promote participatoryfilmmaking around the Olympics.

Work with all four UK Governments toincorporate film education in thecurricula of their initial teachereducation programmes.

Long term success for this strategy willrequire sustained communication,regular monitoring, and credibleevaluation of the outputs, public valueand success of its various elements.The evidence base generated by allthe partners will then be a key tool foradvocacy across public, privatesectors and Government.

We will consolidate existingfilm education activity into acoherent and unified approachthat is advocated, comm-unicated and evaluated.

To do this we will: To do this we will:

To develop and sustain innovative activities for learning aboutfilm that ensure exciting opportunities are created for evermore diverse audiences. This will involve both filling importantgaps in current provision and also initiating complementaryactivities that extend the range of film education intopreviously unexplored areas.

What happens next?

This strategy brings together the work of many organisations,

all of us convinced that by working together in a more

integrated way we can transform the impact and value of film

education for children and young people in every part of the UK.

To devise and implement a pro-fessional development programmefor teachers and other filmeducation practitioners to raisestandards of delivery and qualityof engagement for children andyoung people.

To develop online resources thatgive educational access to theUK’s film archives (in associationwith the UK Screen Heritagestrategy).

To create online resources toaccompany every appropriatepublicly funded British film.

To build a UK-wide network ofschool-based film clubs.

To pilot a new kind of partnershipbetween the film and educationsectors: one at a national level (inWales) and three in English regions(in the East Midlands, Yorkshireand the North East). In the secondand third years we will extendthese pilot projects to encompassthe other nations and regions.

Our ambition to achieve genuinelyUK-wide impact will be under-pinned by a commitment toprioritise action in rural areas andplaces that do not have cinemas.

This document grows out of the workof a wide-ranging Strategy ActionGroup, brought together under theauspices of the UK Film Council andconsisting of representatives from theBFI, Film Education, Film Club, FirstLight Movies, Skillset and the nationaland regional Screen Agencies. Werecognise that, as well as theseorganisations, many of which arefunded directly or indirectly by theUKFC, there are many smallcommunity-based and locally fundedorganisations which are the life-bloodof film education provision. Mostsignificantly, the 35,000 primary andsecondary schools and colleges in theUK are all our partners or potentialpartners. In going forward it is ourintention to work with, and supportthe work of, as many of them aspossible.

Although the Action Group initiallycame together to provide a contextfor the drafting of this document, ourexpectation is that it will continue tomeet on a quarterly basis to providefeedback and guidance as the strategyis implemented and developed.

In addition, a smaller LeadershipGroup, consisting of representativesfrom the UK Film Council, the BFI,First Light Movies, Film Education andFilm Club has been largely responsiblefor drafting this document and willcontinue to be responsible for co-ordinating the strategy.

In this first phase of thestrategy, we propose to focusour energies on achieving fivemain tasks, which are:

Learningjourneys

Tunde’s JourneyWhat kinds of film experience

do we want children to have?

What might they get out of it?

Tunde is 16. His interest in film started at his after-schoolfilm club, then took him to his local cinema. He’s one ofthe programmers of the club, showing films every Friday,and inviting local filmmakers in for discussions andworkshops. He writes about the films on his Bebo page.He’s seen two films this year that have impressed him:Night of the Hunter, and Show Me Love. Tunde’s school filmclub decided that they wanted to make their own film aboutfeeling unsafe on some of the rural footpaths near wherethey live. They heard about Mediabox, which lets you bid formoney to do your own media project, and applied formoney to make it with their local cinema. They showed thefilm in their local cinema where they invited local councillorsas well as friends and family and the council was impressedenough to improve the lighting and signage on the pathway– and then asked the film club to make a film about youngpeople volunteering.

What Tunde said:“Shooting was a little bit of what I expected. I had a vagueidea of what it would be like but I'd never seen a docu-mentary shot before, so I never imagined it would be quiteas long. I thought... if it was a drama I expected morepeople but there was just one person most of the time –the subject – and we were talking to them constantly andthen redoing it... I never thought you'd have to redosomething in a documentary.”

What Tunde’s dad said:“I don’t think our household has talked about anything elsefor the past six months.”

What the Councillor said:“This was a thought-provoking film. The whole initiativeshows what young people can do if given the chance. Themaking of the film is a valuable experience for the studentsand the wider community.”

Jenny’s Journey

Jenny is 11. In History, she made a trailer showing whathappened in England during WW2 using an online editingtool called E-SEQ which lets you choose clips of archivefootage and put them together and a voice-over and addyour own music. Jenny wasn’t keen on black and whitefilms before but now thinks you can make them interestingif you add in your own stuff. She proudly showed her Nanthe film and her Nan recounted stories about being a childduring the war. Jenny’s Nan took the film to the Help theAged Community centre and now Jenny’s school is workingon a film reminiscence project where the children interviewolder people and add their voice-overs to archive films.Jenny sent the film to Film Street (First Light Movies’website for younger children that introduces them to film-making techniques) so other people could watch it andcompare it with their own. Teachers from other schoolshave used the film in their own teaching. Now Jenny wantsto make films so future generations will know about her, herlife, and community.

What Jenny said:“Film is a great way to bring people together; I never knewthe older generation had such hard lives, or great stories.The best thing was that you were working with people bothmore and less experienced than yourself. Not only wouldyou learn from people who had more teaching ability thanyou, but also from teaching things you knew to others.”

What Jenny’s mum said:“Jenny’s film built a bridge with my mother’s generation.It’s really important that young people know that olderpeople were young once.”

What Jenny’s teacher said:“I’ve just been looking at their history exams and they’revery good. It’s helped them develop their knowledge somuch more. In the class we can have debates about itbecause everybody’s got a view and they’re more willingto listen and to speak about it.”

More Journeys

Sarita loves film. She watches the latest trailers on FilmStreet, and her school took her to a children’s film festivalwhere she saw a Moroccan film called Zaina Rider of theAtlas about a girl who wins a horse race, beating all themen in her tribe. The film prompted her to choose to do aschool project about Morocco where she now has half adozen e-pals. She asked for the film to be shown at herafter-school film club and afterwards she got together fourof her friends to make a 5-minute film about horse ridingwhich they posted on YouTube for their friends in Moroccoto watch. She’s heard that at secondary school there’s afilm club, and she wants to get them to show more filmslike Zaina.

Carl is 17 and has left school. His local youth club ran aproject to make a documentary about their estate, and hewandered into the room where they were editing. After a bitof negotiating, they gave him a five-minute sequence toedit to sound and he thought it was a great way to controlhow people saw you, changing soundtracks to make thefilm more upbeat. He’s since heard about Mediabox andhe wants to get his friends together to do a film challenge –making ten different music videos for a Sean Kingston songto put on YouTube.

Charlie went to see a film in National Schools Film Week –they wanted to see Shrek, but they all agreed that as they’dseen it lots of times before they could just this once seesomething else. The film was called My Neighbour Totoroabout a big cat that takes two little girls on adventures. Hetold his parents about it and they bought it in a box set ofother films by the same director. He liked another one,Kiki’s Delivery Service, so he took it into school and theyplayed it in golden time and talked about whether the witchwas evil and nasty, or forced to do bad things.

UK partnerships model

Elements of film education

People who have beeninvolved along the way

Louise Anderson BFIJay Arnold Screen YorkshireMartin Ayres Screen EastTom Barrance Media Education WalesJim BarrattJo Burns BOP ConsultingPauline Burt Film Agency for Wales

Cary BazalgettePete Buckingham UK Film CouncilTim Cagney UK Film CouncilThalia Cassimatis BFIJo Cassey SkillsetChris ChandlerNikki Christie UK Film Council

Christine James BFIToby JacksonAndrew Gallagher Moving ImageEducation Project LeaderJenny Grahame English & Media CentreRachel Grant UK Film CouncilJulie Green Film Education

Sara Clowes Northwest Vision & MediaCarol Comley UK Film CouncilSybil Crouch Ffilm WalesScott Donaldson Scottish ScreenCorinna Downing BAFTAWendy Earle BFIPip Eldridge First Light Movies

Paul Harris University of Abertay DundeeClare Harwood BFIKen Hay Scottish ScreenAntonia Hazlerigg UK Film CouncilMark Higham Film ClubAnneli Jones Arts Council WalesAlison Kirwan BFI

Kate O’Connor SkillsetPeter PackerBecky ParryLorna PartingtonPatrick Phillips Principal & ChiefExaminer for A Level Film StudiesRebekah Polding Film London

Clive Myer University of GlamorganCaroline Nagle UK Film CouncilAmanda Nevil BFIJohn Newbigin UK Film CouncilCaroline Norbury South West ScreenNicky North BFIClaire O’Brien BFI

Karen Langston SkillsetClare Lewis First Light MoviesBill Lucas The Bill Lucas PartnershipBernard McCloskey NorthernIreland ScreenMartin Melarkey The Nerve Centre, DerrySarah-Jane Meredith South West Screen

Gethin While Cardiff UniversityAmanda WhiteRichard Williams Northern Ireland ScreenDebbie Williams EM MediaJohn Woodward UK Film CouncilAdrian Wootton Film London

Anne Threlkeld UK Film CouncilAna ToveySam Wainstein Film ClubNick Walker Film EducationGeraldine Walker MOVies / ShowroomCinemaIan Wall Film Education

Heather Rabbatts UK Film CouncilDerek Ray-Hill Film EducationMark Reid BFIPaul Richardson UK Film CouncilTrish Sheil MOViesHeather Stewart BFIDan Thomas Film Agency for Wales

Cover image courtesy MGMGraphic design by www.publicworks.org.uk

With thanks to

“Film is a great way to bringpeople together; the best thingis working with people bothmore and less experienced thanyourself. Not only would youlearn from people who had moreteaching ability than you, butalso from teaching things youknew to others.”Jenny,young filmmaker

Film education means providing children and youngpeople with a structured, systematic opportunity to watchfilms, to understand films and even to make films, as partof their overall preparation for adult life.

In the UK we are lucky enough to have some of the bestand most imaginative film education initiatives in the world,as well as a Charter for Media Literacy, drawn up by the UKFilm Council and the main broadcasters, which has beenadopted by Government and is already being used as thetemplate for action at a European level. However despitethis leadership position, film education in the UK remainsdisconnected and inconsistent – a bonus for some luckychildren and young people rather than an opportunity andentitlement for all.

This document is intended as a first step on the road tochanging that state of affairs.

Film: 21st Century Literacy

A strategy for film education across the UK

Contact us Partnerships departmentUK Film Council10 Little Portland StreetLondonW1W 7JG

info@21stcenturyliteracy.org.ukwww.21stcenturyliteracy.org.uk

Please visitwww.21stcenturyliteracy.org.ukto download a large print versionof the strategy.