Eco-Cinema Educational Project

“ECO-CINEMA – FILMS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT” is an educational project dedicated to 11-14 years old school students in Calabria, which uses cinema to transmit knowledge and sensitivity to environmental issues.

The project consists of an environmental-themed film program aimed at middle school students, enriched by meetings and debates.

The screenings include a selection of independent animated short and feature films dedicated to the environment in order to promote the values of environmental sustainability and territorial protection.

The films are approved by UNICEF Italia and combine quality with the ability to entertain young people.

They use the simple, innovative and high-impact language of contemporary animated cinema to convey important messages. In addition, information materials, including a handbook created by personalities committed to environmental issues, are provided, and educational workshops are held.

The project is funded by the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education through the ‘Cinema and Images for Schools‘ programme.

In December 2022, we proposed the project involving six schools in all five Calabrian provinces, bringing animated films and environmental thematic discussions to the students: IC San Giovanni F. Alighieri in San Giovanni in Fiore (CS); IC Murmura in Murmura (VV); IC Garibaldi-Buccarelli in Vibo Valentia (VV); IC Davoli Marina in Davoli (CZ), IC San Sperato-Cardeto in Reggio Calabria (RC); IC Diodato Borrelli in Santa Severina (KR).

We chose to involve locations in the peripheral areas of the Region, which are often ignored in the cultural development process of our territory and have difficult access to educational projects and cultural activities.

The meetings were held inside school buildings, transforming school spaces into centres of culture and debate, adapting to the different situations we found: gyms, magic classrooms, traditional classrooms, theatres, where we set up a screen, projector and sound system, to give children a different image of a place that can become a cinema.

The animated short films screened were chosen to represent different styles, languages and countries, focusing on the following themes: climate change and rising temperatures; defence of marine and terrestrial biodiversity; waste and recycling culture; sustainable energy.

The discussion time was prepared in such a way as to leave room for the students to express their ideas, trying to create an open and stimulating debate capable of enhancing their opinion. We wanted to go beyond the traditional frontal lesson, avoiding explaining the films and letting the students form a personal path, where we did not impose our vision, but tried to bring out theirs.

We identified the needs of adolescents living in peripheral contexts to be able to access stimulating cultural initiatives that are alternatives to traditional schooling. Then, their need to feel heard, to be able to express themselves freely in front of their peers, free from the logic of evaluations. Finally, an awareness, in some cases very mature, in others still in the making, of the distressing problem of the environmental crisis.