Pedagogical Practices of the Creative Process. Ways of learning and teaching film and audiovisual art

Alain Bergala revolutionized how the art of filmmaking is taught through the concept of a "pedagogy of the creative process". Considering the widespread practice of what had been called "audiovisual literacy", that is, the acquisition of knowledge on the use of audiovisual language, Bergala advocated for a more active form of teaching, one in which viewers would have to return to that time prior to the images and the sounds, when all possibilities were still open. The paradigm shift introduced the notion that the viewer's motivation, emotion and desire could be a driving force behind learning and the possibility that viewers might potentially become creators. 

The seminar "Pedagogy of the creative process" aims to serve as a space for meeting and reflecting on how film and audiovisual art is taught, the starting point for which will be covered in the first session: the paradigm shift first introduced by Bergala for teaching cinema in schools.

The second session will be a reflection on the role of film schools and universities in teaching cinema, from the point of view of theory and practice. In this regard, the recently inaugurated school, the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, marks a pivotal moment in its break with prototypical schools that typically have taken a 20th century approach to film, one being called into question today. 

Any reflection on teaching the creative process would hardly be complete without a consideration of the interconnections that teaching audiovisuals has made with the social sciences and critical teaching methods. Reflections in the field of visual anthropology have fostered a kind of collective practice that pushed social participation and the empowerment of communities into the fore, no longer objects represented on film and instead subjects producing audiovisual images. Calling into question the types of power implicit in teaching has fostered an exploration into new, more participative and inclusive methodologies that give co-learning a key role.

Noemí García Díaz

Seminar coordinator

MAY 4

THE HYPOTHESIS OF CINEMA.  LEARNING AND TEACHING FILM IN SCHOOLS

MORNING

Seminar introduction.

Lecture by Alain Bergala: "Film as creation: A way of seeing and making films".

Bergala affirms that art is not taught, but rather found. It is experienced and transmitted in ways unlike those that teach it as unique knowledge. School would be the place where that meeting could take place.

Alain Bergala. Film critic, filmmaker and professor at Paris III University. He was head editor of the magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. He was the film advisor to Minister of Education Jack Lang in drawing up a project on art education and cultural action in French schools. Author of The Cinema Hypothesis (2007). 

Lecture by Núria Aidelman Feldman. "Creation as an experience: encounters with film, in school and out".

The pedagogical program of Cine en curso ("Cinema in progress") has come about out of a desire and need for encouraging children and young people to actively and profoundly discover cinema as an art form and creative outlet.

Núria Aidelman Feldman.  Professor at Pompeu Fabra University, she co-runs the cultural association A Bao A Qu, which develops projects bringing together education, creation and culture. Some of its most notable projects include "Cinema in Progress", "Photography in Progress" and "Creators in Residence", which are carried out in high schools. 

Round table: "Cinema in the classroom".

Film has great pedagogical potential, which can be leveraged within the framework of educational institutions. The meeting with professionals involved in teaching cinema in schools provides a space for reflecting and exchanging experiences.

Moderator:

Marina Díaz López. Researcher, writer and film programmer. Head of the Film and Audiovisual Department at the Instituto Cervantes. Phd in Film History.

Participants:

• Ignacio Agüero. Film director. He runs the educational program Cero en conducta (Chile).
• Nuria Díaz Velarde. In charge of developing the Aula Film platform.
• Marta Nieto. In charge of educational projects for the collective Drac Màgic.
• Publio Pérez Prieto. Artist and high school teacher.

AFTERNOON

Screening: 100 niños esperando el tren, Ignacio Agüero, Chile, 1988. Followed by discussion with the director.

Screening: Martírio, Vincent Carelli, Brasil, 2016. Discussion follows.

MAY 5

FILM SCHOOLS: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

MORNING

Lecture by Carlos Muguiro: “Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola (EQZE). School of the three time periods of cinema".

The EQZE was founded in 2017 with the aim of supporting emerging those filmmakers with a whole-scale perspective, those capable of generating new film realities. It offers a methodology that combines aesthetic exploration, experimental practice and the passionate experience of the act of filming.

Carlos Muguiro Altuna. Director of the EQZE, filmmaker, film programmer, professor at the University of Navarra, founder and director of the Punto de Vista Film Festival (2005-2010) and director of the documentary film specialization at the ECAM until 2017.

Round table: "Universities and film schools: Learning models and methodologies under debate".

A place for reflecting on learning the present-day practices and theory of filmmaking within the framework of university institutions and film schools for the purpose of improving them in the future.

Moderator:

Lola Mayo. Screenwriter, writer, teacher and film programmer. Coordinator of the Documentary Film Seminar at the San Antonio de los Baños International Film School (2014-2017).

Participants:

• Josep María Catalá. Professor Emeritus at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Academic Director of the Masters in Creative Documentary (1996-2017).
• María Luisa Ortega Gálvez. PhD in Philosophy. Researcher, writer, film programmer and professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
• Javier Rebollo. Screenwriter, director and film producer. Professor of Film at the ECAM, Pompeu Fabra University, EICTV (Cuba).
• Pablo Useros. Visual artist and director of LAV Masters (Laboratory of Contemporary Audiovisual Creation and Practice).

AFTERNOON

Screening: Lo que dirán, Nila Núñez, Mar Zapata, Emiliano Trovati and Nelson Hernández. Produced by the Masters in Theory and Practice of Creative Documentary Film (UAB), class of 2016-2017. Discussion follows.

MAY 6

VIDEO, COLLABORATIVE PRACTICES AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION

MORNING

Lecture by Vincent Carelli: “Video nas aldeias. The indigenous cinema of Brazil ".

Precursor project in audiovisual production and training in indigenous communities of Brazil, the objective of which was to aide the struggles of indigenous peoples, strengthen their identity and defend their territorial and cultural heritage through collaborative video-making.

Vincent Carelli. Anthropologist, indigenista and documentary filmmaker. He created the Video nas Aldeias Project in 1987. Since then, Carelli has produced a series of documentaries about the methods and results of this work, which have been shown all over the world. He received the UNESCO prize in 1999.

Round table: "Video, community, co-learning and social participation".

A space focusing on alternative pedagogical practices and actions that foster the development of critical thinking, citizen participation, collaborative learning and the exploration of everyday life through art.

Moderator:

Pili Álvarez. Artist, film director and teacher. She is on the educational team at the CA2M museum and the Las Lindes research group.

Participants:

• Pau Coll Sánchez. Co-director of the feature film collective Adentro.
• Eva Fernández: Founder of the Cine sin autor ("Cinema with no author") collective and the School of social cinema 2.0 at the Impact Hub.
• Andrea de Pascual: General Coordinator of Pedagogías invisibles ("Invisible Pedagogical Methods") and a member of the Matadero education group.
• Virginia Villaplana. Artist, cultural researcher and professor at the University of Murcia. She belongs to the Subframes collective.

AFTERNOON

Screening: Adentro, Pau Coll Sánchez, Spain, 2017. Followed by discussion with the director.