From 4 to 6 November, the Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa in Palermo will host the National Days of Cinema for Schools, Italy’s leading event dedicated to visual education. For the occasion, the city’s cultural hub will become a large open-air learning laboratory, welcoming teachers, school principals and experts from across the country.
The event is promoted by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Merit as part of the National Cinema and Images for Schools Plan (CIPS), and organised by Palermo’s Galileo Galilei Scientific High School in collaboration with ANEC. The underlying idea is that images are a language to be learned and that schools can teach this language by using cinema as an educational tool rather than simply as entertainment.
The programme opens on 4 November at 4 pm with Undersecretary of State for Culture Lucia Borgonzoni. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture (MiC) and the Ministry of Education and Merit (MIM) will attend the opening ceremony. Giorgio Carlo Brugnoni, Director General for Cinema and Audiovisual at the MiC, and Fabio Melelli, President of the CIPS funding calls Commission, will join remotely. Vincenzo Mannino, adviser to Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, will represent the MIM.
One of this year’s highlights is a masterclass with a distinguished guest from the film world: Piera Detassis. In the following days, major film distribution companies will present their catalogues for schools.
Cinema takes centre stage from the very first evening, with a screening of Se domani non torno by Paola Randi at 9 pm, introduced by Gino Cecchettin. On Thursday 5 November, the programme features Senza chiedere permesso by Giacomo Mazzariol, a sensitive film exploring disability, followed by a discussion with teachers. The line-up also includes 15/18 (A Place To Heal) by Cédric Kahn, previously presented at the Venice Film Festival, and I Swear by Kirk Jones.
Alongside the screenings, Thursday 5 and Friday 6 November will feature a packed programme of panels and training workshops organised by leading cultural and educational institutions in the sector. Topics address some of the key questions facing schools today: best practices in media education, inclusive approaches to cinema, the analysis of visual languages in the age of artificial intelligence, and teaching through audiovisual media.
Assostampa Palermo, the local branch of the Sicilian journalists’ union, is among the event’s partners, together with Cre.zi. Plus, Associazione Lumpen, the Sicily branch of the Experimental Centre of Cinematography, Invitalia, Institut Français Palermo and Legambiente Sicilia. Assostampa Sicilia’s headquarters, listed as “Room G” in the programme, will host three events in the Orlando Scarlata hall: on 5 November at 9.30 am, and on 6 November at 9.30 am and 11.30 am.
The event will conclude on Friday 6 November at 3.30 pm, once again in the presence of representatives from the MiC and MIM. Medusa Film will present Figli perduti, the debut feature by Lorenzo Maria Chierici, with the director and actor Matteo Oscar Giuggioli attending in person and Alessandro Gassmann joining via video link. The discussion will be moderated by Fabia Bettini and Gianluca Giannelli.
Photo credit: Ministero della Cultura Website
