Ricciotto Canudo already at the beginning of the last century theorized cinema as an artistic language and prophesied its didactic function. The “seventh art,” a definition we owe to him, integrates and condenses into a moving image all other art forms: painting and perspective, architecture and music.
To know cinema, therefore, is to teach through images. This was stressed by Undersecretary for Culture Lucia Borgonzoni during her speech at the opening of the fourth edition of the Cinema Days for Schools, which are still returning to the Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa in Palermo.
The senator further reiterated that “(…) audiovisual education is fundamental, not only because it is a way to bring young people closer to cinema, but because it means teaching through images. We have generations communicating through images, and we have to somehow communicate the power of these images, with everything behind them.
CIPS Plan, which is the National Cinema and Image Plan for schools, has exactly these objectives: to counter iconic illiteracy and communicative distraction, to foster a critical understanding of the present, and to spread a visual culture capable of communicating with the ongoing digital revolution. To achieve this in the last 4 years, 395 projects have been funded, supported with a total of 104 million euros provided by MiC, involving nearly 1.8 million students and 112 thousand teachers throughout Italy.
Expounding on these results and future directions, however, was Bruno Zambardino, contact person for the National Cinema for Schools Plan at the General Directorate for Cinema and Audiovisual of the Mic, who revealed the Plan’s biggest goal: “To include the audiovisual language in schools of all levels.” This means “not only teaching the history of cinema and audiovisual language, but educating about cinema as a language and enriching the educational offer through cinema.”
The Call for Schools for the 2025-26 school year confirms the three lines of action: CinemaScuola LAB for secondary I and II grade, CinemaScuola LAB for preschool and primary, and Visioni Fuori-Luogo for secondary I and II grade. Cinemaperlascuola.istruzione.it website has all the specifics about it.
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