After the success of the Cinéfête programme – 100,000 young viewers per year! – which proposes a programme of Francophone films for school children across Germany, other projects such as Britfilms and Ven y Mira have started up along the same lines. A summary and perspectives for the future…

Britfilms is a programme of British films proposed by AG-Kino, the union of independent German art house cinemas, in partnership with Vision Kino, the German organisation for cinema education, and its British counterpart FilmEducation. 92 cinemas of the Europa Cinemas network (of the 111 network cinemas in Germany) belong to AG Kino. For one year, a programme of five British films will tour AG Kino's member cinemas, which offer screenings for pupils aged 10 – 18. The current tour comprises the following films: Wallace & Gromit by Peter Lord and Nick Park, East is East by Damien O’Donnell, Bride and Prejudice by Gurinder Chadha, the 2006 Palme d’Or The Wind that shakes the barley by Ken Loach and Kidulthood by Menhaj Huda.
Screenings are organised specially for English teachers, who are provided with pedagogical material. For more information: www.agkino.de/britfilms

Ven y Mira – Hispanophone films on tour
Another project, Ven y mira / Komm’ gucken ("Come watch") has just been launched by the organisation Flux-Agentur für Film-Kultur. The project is organised by Jens Schneiderheinze, who is also exhibitor of the Cinema-Kurbelkiste in Münster (North Rhine-Westphalia) – a cinema known for its energy and commitment to young audiences. Ven y Mira provides German cinemas with a programme of Hispanophone films geared toward school children. The programme comprises 4 Spanish films: Los lunes al sol by Fernando León de Aranoa, Noviembre by Achero Mañas, 7 Vírgenes by Alberto Rodríguez (which was screened in 2005 in the frame of the Europa Cinemas Conference in Budapest) and Kilómetro cero by Yolanda García Serrano, and the Chilean film Machuca by Andrés Wood (screened during the 2004 Directors' Fortnight).
This initiative will be launched during a premiere at the "Cinema" in Münster on 21 February. It responds to a real demand on the part of exhibitors, who are delighted at this Hispanophone programme. The films may be reserved directly on the website www.flux-agentur.de. Teaching material is already available for four of the five films programmed, and the fifth will be ready soon. The films will allow teachers to address topics such as the individual and society, development and identity, cultures…
The project was initiated during a Europa Cinemas conference at which Jens Schneiderheinze met Linda Pariser, exhibitor of the Cornerhouse in Manchester in the UK (www.cornerhouse.org/film/) and organiser of the Hispanophone festival ¡Viva!. The two exhibitors discussed their experience and their respective projects. Linda Pariser provided Jens Schneiderheinze with the teaching material on the Hispanophone films put together for the ¡Viva! Festival. A fine example of cooperation between exhibitors of the Europa Cinemas network.

For more information: www.flux-agentur.de

Pictures:
Mondays in the Sun / Los Lunes al Sol by Fernando León de Aranoa (2002)
7 virgins / 7 vírgenes by Alberto Rodriguez (2005)