By Joanne Parsont
In a world saturated with screens and immersed in media, it is not just advisable to teach young people about film, it’s imperative. We all recognize the power of film to both inform and transform, and what better place to make that happen than inside a classroom (or inside a theater full of kids), where students are primed to be enlightened and inspired? As young people have become round-the-clock media consumers and creators, it has become that much more important for teachers to use media effectively in the classroom, for filmmakers to learn how to talk about their work in an educational context, and for students to be exposed to media professionals.
At the San Francisco Film Society, we’ve been working in the educational community for more than two decades, and it is some of the most gratifying work we do. As we’ve steadily built up our Education programs over the last few years, we’ve been trying to find a way to share that work—and the experience and resources we’ve cultivated—with the greater film and education communities outside the local Bay Area. So we are really excited about the great new web portal we just launched: FilmEd.
FilmEd. is a dynamic, online interactive Open Educational Resource where educators and filmmakers can access the information and tools—and the community—they need to teach media arts in the classroom and to connect filmmakers with young audiences. The site connects teachers with media professionals, encourages collaborative curriculum development, and promotes student engagement through film viewing and media making. In addition to its interactive resources, FilmEd. hosts the Film Society’s curated collection of viewing guides for films and the hands-on curriculum for our Filmmakers in the Classroom (FITC) program.
We developed the FITC program in 2010, matching classroom teachers with local filmmakers to provide training and instruction in media literacy and media making over the course of a semester. We figured this was the best way to meet two critical needs at once: teach the students how to consume and create media while simultaneously training the teachers in how to use media in the classroom. But when you’re working one-on-one in the classroom in a program like FITC, you can only reach so many kids at one time. With limited staffing and funding resources, we were only able to be in three classrooms in any given semester. And we knew we wanted to do more. Thus began the development of FilmEd.
But there’s another key component to our film education work: we place the filmmaker at the heart of it. As an exhibitor and funder, the Film Society has the advantage of working directly with filmmakers—both local and from around the world—every day. And we want those filmmakers to start thinking about the opportunities and potential impact their films can have in the educational arena. Because in many ways this is not just about the kids (though they do come first)—most filmmakers we work with are blown away by the experience of sharing their films with students. The questions and feedback you get are nothing like your average Q&A with an adult audience. This is pure, unfiltered, youth engagement, and it can profoundly change the way you see your film and your audience. If you haven’t dipped your toe into this pond yet, you might be surprised by what you find there.
With that in mind, we are developing an additional FilmEd. for Filmmakers section on the FilmEd. site, which will offer resources for filmmakers who want to engage with the educational community and develop a student audience for their films. Resources such as:
• Tools for developing curricular materials
• Strategies for engaging K-12 classroom audiences
• Worksheets for articulating educational outreach goals
• Examples of successful curricula and outreach strategies
SFFS Education is also now offering consulting services to select filmmakers to help them develop educational outreach strategies and curricula for their films. Contact us at education@sffs.org to find out more or to see if your project might be a good fit. And don’t forget to log in to FilmEd. and join the community!
— Joanne Parsont
Joanne Parsont is the Director of Education for the San Francisco Film Society and has worked in the Bay Area for almost 20 years as a film festival programmer, writer, editor, consultant, project manager and media educator, specializing in outreach, education
