An event organised by ECFA (European Childrens’ Film Association) and  Cineteca di Bologna with the collaboration of Screen The Future European Children’s Film Festival Network, and with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA

When in 2023, the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA) joined forces with the Cineteca di Bologna and Il Cinema Ritrovato to organise our first ECFA Workshop Warehouse event, we aimed to bring together film education professionals from around Europe in order to exchange knowledge and inspire one another. It seems that our effort was not in vain. Around 60 professionals gathered during a very busy weekend and truly inspired one another. It was important for us to ensure that the mindset of the participants would be one of sharing and this is the main takeaway of those who benefitted from their participation two years ago. It is important to note that although film education is at the heart of any media or audiovisual education, training, or literacy initiatives, it is common to see professionals in this field being underestimated and considered goodhearted hobbyists. This seems directly related to the fact that academia has not fully embraced the need to work on various aspects of film education, leading to its marginalisation in formal education. Meanwhile, some decision-makers tend to assume that, due to the realities formed by the dominant position of media in modern society, it is either obsolete or unnecessary to intervene in the market and engage in film education. Of course, this is no reason to stop doing what you can prove is right to do. Our experience clearly shows the opposite: the overwhelming media landscape requires navigation tools for younger generations (but also for older generations condemned to “doom scrolling”), and film and media education has a very special role in this process. This is why the ECFA has striven to repeat the successful event of 2023. The Cineteca di Bologna has again provided valuable resources, both financial and human, and also offered the fertile ground of Il Cinema Ritrovato for the event. We should mention here the commitment of the Schermi e Lavagne team, under Elisa Giovannelli, in preparation for the event. The addition of another partner was necessary to ensure the financial resources. We found this partner among the ECFA members: the “Screen The Future” European Children’s Film Festival Network, consisting of seven children’s film festivals and co-funded by the European Union through Creative Europe MEDIA programme, came in to profess that synergies are not only beneficial to their partners, but they are the only viable way to move forward with important initiatives in a field that has always been underfunded. The result is the ECFA Workshop Warehouse 2025, a professional event that will host over 60 professionals from 20 countries. Being proud of our process, as the festival begins, we are ready to roll up our sleeves and engage in what we do best!

Pantelis Panteloglou (President of the European Children’s Film Association)