Leaving aside the UK's somewhat uncertain future in the EU, its 42 years as part of the community mean it is important to consider Britain in comparison to its mainland counterparts with respect to their approaches to film education. This particular post will concentrate on France, who seem to be outweighing a lot of other European countries in terms of their dedication to integrating film into education from a young age.
French minister for Culture and Communications, Aurélie Filippetti spoke with some vigour at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival about the level of provisions for film education, claiming that "culture is at the very heart of the project that is the European Union". The French, it seems, are far ahead of us in creating an inclusive entitlement to film education. For the last two decades, the French National Education Ministry, and the CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée) have run (and continue to run) three in-school film education initiatives to cover students at all ages; “Ecole et Cinéma” (“Schools and Film”), “Collège au Cinéma” (“Secondary School Goes to the
Cinema”) and “Lycéens et Apprentis au Cinéma” (“High School Students & Apprentices in Film”), which in the 2011/12 school year reached 1,410,000
pupils, "representing the most significant provision for arts and culture education during school hours."
So what are they doing that other European countries aren't? And how are their actions affecting their industry?
While they still may not have the perfect approach to film education yet, their use of the medium in schools and the importance they place on the arts in general is certainly more than a few steps ahead of the UK mind-set. It seems that while the BFI and IntoFilm battle against a government who seem particularly resistant to approaching film as a necessary part of a rounded education, the French government seem to have at least put in to action some of the demands made by the pro film education groups there.
Differences in the French and the UK approach to film education might be partly placed in the history of the country's artistic turning point, the May 68 student strike and subsequent cultural explosion. Interestingly, while France experienced an artist revolution after May 68, and other countries have experienced similar movements (such as 'La Movida' in Spain after the death of Franco's), in England's history, we have never experienced such a dramatic movement that has embraced the arts fully as a form of rebellion or expression of freedom.
France's much deeper set acceptance and appreciation of the arts in comparison to the UK shows in terms of figures and economic contribution too. A study presented by the CNC in 2013, reported that French cinema contributes twice as much to their national economy than the UK Film industry does to the UK GDP. The organisation put the direct value of the cinema industry in France in 2011 (€ 3.3 billion) accounts for 0.2% of the French GDP versus the 0.1% direct value added to the UK GDP by our own film industry.
Xavier Lardoux's 2013 report 'For a European Film Education policy', commissioned by the CNC also outlines a number of European countries taking steps towards integrating film into the school systems, including Austria, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Croatia - but not the UK quite yet.
Despite the dedication in the UK of various individuals and organisations to the entitlement for all to film education, and the integration of media literacy as a part of our national curriculum, the governmental resistance in the UK is disheartening and frustrating. Unfortunately, there are just a few minds that stand directly in the path of a more prosperous and diverse film industry that we might be proud of.
Footnotes
1) For a European Film Education policy', available at CNC.fr
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