Convinced of the educational value of cinema, the Black Movie Festival offers the middle and secondary schools of Geneva a program of activities to make students aware of image interpretation, film criticism, and various social issues and current themes.

During one week, the Black Movie festival offers secondary school students and their teachers a programme of screenings of films from the festival’s general program. These films are chosen for their cinematographic quality as well as their thematic interest and their educational significance. These sessions can be prepared in advance using educational documentation provided by the festival and thus fit into a complete educational sequence.
These educational documentation files also provide ideas for further reflection after the session.

Screenings take place at the Cinémas du Grütli and at the Theatre Les Salons. For the post-compulsory level, an in-class screening option may be requested. This is not possible for all the films on offer.
The timetable for school screenings is also available on the Ecole & Culture website.

Each year the Black Movie Festival offers third and fourth-year students in secondary school (college, ECG, CFP, trade school) two rewarding learning experiences at the heart of the world of film festival. Composed of 5 to 9 and 3 to 5 students respectively, the “Young Adults’ Jury” and the “Aspiring film critics” benefit from the same training in image interpretation and film criticism. They then follow a screening programme of some ten films of the current edition of the festival, chosen for their formal interest, their origin and their thematic content.

The Young Adults’ Jury has the task of debating and deliberating in order to select a winning film and award a prize to the winner at the Closing Ceremony.

As for the Aspiring film critics, they write reviews on the films of their choice to feed the festival blog. The latter can be enlivened with photos of the festival (filmmakers, atmosphere, etc.).

For the most motivated members, there is also the possibility of producing, in a supervised way, a radio chronicle on the festival's Black FM!

The aim of this experience is to allow students to develop their skills in film criticism and in oral and written expression, while experiencing a film festival from the inside.

In order to continue the work of raising awareness of images and film criticism and to extend the accessibility to quality cinema for students, schools can host screenings. Three options are possible:

• Simple screening

Viewing of a film in class or in the auditorium during class time; educational file at disposal.

• Screening and presentation

Presentation of the film and preparation for the screening by a Festival staff member; viewing in class or in the auditorium during class time; educational file at disposal.

• School project

Presentation of the film and preparation for the screening by a Festival staff member; viewing in class or in the auditorium during class time; educational file at disposal; discussion with a speaker specialized in the themes raised by the film.

These screenings can be organized for an entire grade, for all the students of a specific institution or branch.

For the three options, an educational file to extend the discussion in class with the students also accompanies the film.

Various themes can thus be discussed with the students of a whole school, a school grade, a section or a class, such as: migration in the 21st century, economy and globalization, street children, etc.

Registration here: https://form.jotform.com/231234168556053