WATCH & DISCUSS:
SHORT MOVIES, GREAT IDEAS

Watch and Discuss: Short Films, Great Ideas is a short film program for schools (ages 11-18 and adults), in which students explore cinema expression and engage in critical thinking.

The film creators were participants in film seminars by Karpos. They have different cultural and social backgrounds and navigate social topics (inclusion, social equality, ableism, etc.) through their films, using different cinematic techniques (pixilation, documentary, fiction).

ACTIVITIES

  • 1. 6 Films Screening (35’). The films can be screened with 1-2’ break for discussion.
  • 2. Discussion- Voting: (45’). Students- viewers discuss with each other in small groups (2 or 3 people) and make decisions on the responses of specific questions given. The questions are related to the content of the films, the narration through images and the different thoughts and feelings they evoke.

    Suggesting questions:
    ✔ Which films would I suggest to a friend?
    ✔ Which film was the most controversial?

    Process:
    The voting process takes place onl;ine through an interactive platform.
  • 3. The responses of the voting will be sent to the teacher and will later be posted on our site.

Who can participate?

  • a class of a school with at least one teacher/coordinator
  • Students from different levels
  • A non-formal team

Goals:

The program aims to familiarize students with audiovisual language.

More specifically, the students:

  • Acquire skills and navigate through short narratives
  • Take part in a creative discussion as equals, on relevant topics of the modern society.
  • Enhance their argumentation skills through processes of negotiation

SCREENED FILMS

A. Two of them were created in the framework of the European project Speak Up! Media For Inclusion, as a result of a workshop with young people and young refugees through the film courses of Karpos. Watch the trailer.

1. Small Worlds (2021) Documentary

directed by Khatere Vaziri

Katerre is a mother of 3 children and lives in a room with her whole family. In her limited free time, between doing laundry, cooking and the bureaucracy of refugee work, she finds a way to create her own imaginary, childlike, photographic worlds.

2. A life long Day (2021) Cut out animation

directed by Saber Ansari

With his peculiar painting and filmic form, the 23-year-old Saber describes his entire life in 4 minutes in a light-hearted way and invites us to guess his subject.

Β. The second series of films resulted from the Video & Storytelling Lab designed and implemented by Karpos with the support of UNHCR (2022-23). The participants are 20-50 years old, both Greek and young migrants or refugees permanently residing in Greece. These films deal with issues such as disability, justice, urban landscape and multiculturalism, homelessness and a school that welcomed children who recently arrived in Greece from Ukraine. Watch the trailer

3. The city of faces (2023) Group film directing, poetic essay, documentary.

Team: Christos Angelidis, Stavroula Samara, Avra Stavroula Sotiropoulou

How do the faces of the city shape its identity? How does the ancient part of the city intertwined with the contemporary one? The creative team loves Athens’ peculiarities and explores them through the -one word- answers of the city centre residents to the question “What does the city mean to you?”.

4. Be Kind (2023) Group film directing, fiction.

Team: Faith Barekye, Theodore Ali, Dimitra Paraskevopoulou, Samantha Sotos

How much do kindness and politeness cost? The film is based on a true story of a call center employee with disability. With their exceptional protagonist, the film makers want to raise awareness and motivate people to be more kind, even during a simple phone call.

5. People #404 (2023) Group film directing, poetic essay, documentary

Team: George Chalakheshashvili, Ornela Ntoko

“404 error” message appears when there is no access to a website due to an error. The film makers chose this title for the people we meet daily in the city, but in reality, we do not see them.

6. Τhe Lightkeepers (2023) Group film directing, documentary

Team: Mustafa Noah, Olena Soinikova, Elli Xypolitaki

How does a school in Athens, that works on the weekends, help refugee children that have fled the war in Ukraine? How does it help ease children’s painful memories and experiences from the war?

The films created at both workshops reflect the experiences of the creators themselves and speak empirically about the above issues. The process of viewing and reviewing these films, helps students to talk about social issues through art. The films introduce empowerment issues to the classroom through artistic creation and representation.

This project is implemented under the auspices and support of the Ministry of Culture.