Creating new generations of curious and attentive spectators and encouraging interest in cinema culture are two of the founding goals of institutions that safeguard and promote film heritage. Over the last decade, we have witnessed a proliferation of educational initiatives concerning film and image, both in the context of studies promoted by the European Commission as well as programmes supporting initiatives regarding film education and the development of younger audiences. This is a sign that awareness exists, both at European and national level, of the necessity and urgency to include image and film studies in educational programmes.
The continuous evolution of, and ever-greater accessibility to instruments of audio-visual production means that we are constantly being confronted by a myriad of moving images. From this arises the need to provide younger generations with the appropriate grammatical, syntactical, historical and critical means to read, decode and use in a responsible way the tremendous
amount of images they are continuously exposed to; and to allow them to rediscover the act of collective vision in cinema theatres. The debate on how to propose cinema to younger audiences, depending on location and specific needs, remains on-going.
The European FLICK project (promoted by Cineteca di Bologna) and the CinED programme (promoted by Institut Français), both supported by the Media sub-programme of Creative Europe, have created this occasion with the idea of bringing together the years of experience of a variety of experts to animate the debate surrounding film education. This moment of reflection wishes to highlight the best proposals at European level to recreate a cinema-going public and the best initiatives aimed at involving more and more young people and children in a conscious and critical consumption of cinema, and to understand the role played by film heritage in this debate.

Participation in the conference is free. For more information:
enrica.serrani@cineteca.bologna.it