CINEMATOPEDIA

CINEMATOPEDIA

Cinemas as Innovation Hubs for Local Communities

The general objective of the project is to empower cinemas in 5 local communities and enhance local cultural life and social inclusion through the creation of innovative cultural hubs around cinema through the combination of offline and online methods.

Cinematopedia is funded in the framework of the preparatory action “Cinemas as Innovation Hubs for Local Communities – 2nd call” Call for Proposals CNECT/I.3/2020/2738010. Media Policy Audiovisual Industry & Media Support Programmes.

Cinematopedia represents the joint effort of the consortium composed of A.P.S. Callysto (It), Action Synergy (Gr.), Eloris S.A. (Gr), Politistikos Sylogos Fortetsas (Gr), Rencontres Audiovisuelles (Fr.), UAB Antras kadras (Lt), Viesoji Istaiga Kino Pasaka (Lt)

The specific objectives of the project are the following:

  1. a) To increase the cooperation between VOD platforms, cinema operators and cultural organisations for the benefit of the local communities;
  2. b) To improve the cinema- going experience of local communities through a combination of online and offline methods;
  3. c) To increase the involvement of youth audience in activities related with cinema;
  4. d) To increase the cooperation between the school and educational community and cinema;
  5. e) To increase awareness of European films from the local communities;
  6. f) To increase participation in cinema-going activities from people without previous cinema culture;
  7. g) To increase the use of cinema as a tool for promotion of local cultural heritage by the local communities;
  8. h) To increase cooperation between cinemas and different stakeholders in the local community;

 

Following the rise of the global VOD platforms and the evolution of the covid19 pandemic, the experience of cinema and watching films has changed; it has become more individualized. However, cinema has still a very important role to play in relation with community building. Cinematopedia is exploring different methods which combine physical and virtual experience and can lead local communities to enjoy, learn, think, create and connect (between themselves but also with other communities) through cinema.

The project activities are going to impact on five areas with limited cinema infrastructure in t

he participating countries. The project is not aiming to provide cinema experiences for an audience but co-create cultural experiences based on cinema with the audience and involve it in many different pro-active ways.

First of all, the project is giving particular attention to the development of the youth audience and has developed many activities in order to achieve this. The engagement of a youth audience is a major challenge for the cinema industry and especially for art house and European cinema. It is important to create environments to attract youth audiences in the first instance. The project is aiming to bring together entertainment and civic engagement, introduce younger generations to the cinema and get them to participate directly in activities.

Generally, the project is focusing on the development of a dialectical approach. Every screening and every learning activity can be a motive for discussion, critical thinking and engagement. The objective is to develop social experience in an accessible and welcoming (online and offline) environment.

Through the project, we are going to establish localized mini-networks, involving cultural play

ers and local business actors that can join forces and work jointly in the attempt to engage the local audience in a more convincing way than before.

Another main element of innovation, it is about the blending of physical and online activities. This dialogue between physical and virtual is constant throughout the project activities including the screening activities, the learning modules and the co-creation activities.

The cooperation with VOD platform allows, from one side, the implementation of cultural programs and, on the other, the organisation of virtual screening and the presentation of supplementary film offer.

The emphasis of the project in the inter-connection between offline and online activities is evident also in relation with the use of the social media. Working through a well-designed communication strategy, the local cinema clubs can create a domino effect through their online popularity, thus resulting in the development of more centers around the partner countries and the rest of Europe.

Overall strategy

  • Organization of a cinema club with weekly screenings of movies with at least 80% European content;
  • Involving local youth in programming and promotional activities;
  • Schedule screenings for special groups;
  • Open film nights for local film-makers;
  • Screenings focused on European topics;
  • Screenings from other partner countries involved in the project;
  • Promotion of cinema in rural places;
  • Educational activities for school students and youth;
  • Training of teachers in audiovisual and cinema literacy;
  • Organization of E-learning courses;
  • Organization of master classes and workshops;
  • Involvement of local community in film documentation of local history and cultural heritage