SIGNIS Argentina successfully completed virtual training on Film Dialogues

Cine Mundo Chico , the Educommunication project that SIGNIS Argentina has been developing for years, carries out film-debate cycles for middle school students.

The proposal includes the training of teachers and trainers, so that media education, through cinema, can be replicated and increased.

This theoretical-practical proposal invariably was developed in person from its beginnings, since the participation and shared intervention of students from state schools and private schools was also part of the aspiration of these meetings.

In early 2020, while the cycle's agenda was being planned, the COVID-19 pandemic forced to rethink the continuity of this activity.

Lidia Greco, coordinator of Cine Mundo Chico, describes it as follows: “In the first days of April of this year, the coordinators and team members of the Cine Mundo Chico project of SIGNIS Argentina were initiating dialogues on the activities to develop in the first semester of the year. Little by little we became aware that a global phenomenon, and until now not lived in our lives, was advancing rapidly and ended on March 20, 2020 with the resolution of the Argentine government to decree quarantine with social, preventive and mandatory isolation in the whole country. Once the initial emotional impact has been overcome, we feel an interpellation to our imagination to achieve content, dynamics and learning from the use of platforms that enable meetings to specify teacher training. This had to be done without it being a chore that would burden their work, that learning would be meaningful, and that they enjoy the encounters. We had a high response to the call. "

The initiative was supported by work guides developed in record time by the team, which included the analysis of three short films that addressed topics that later allowed to be expanded by the teachers themselves and their students, especially in a context of isolation.

The idea was that these guides could also be adapted when the new reality allows face-to-face activities again.

As this time there would be no college students, a more open and joint effort was considered with the teachers and trainers who signed up. This new participatory virtual project was called " Film Dialogues" . The use of different applications and communication platforms was essential.

“We worked hard for a whole month, and we finally made it. On Thursday, April 23, 2020, we provided the first meeting with defined roles and functions of all members and with the creation of the WhatsApp group “Dialogues of cinema” and an email created especially so that communications were smooth. Through these means we announced schedules and activities. By email we sent the links of the shorts that had to be viewed prior to each meeting, an analysis guide of audiovisual material on the topics to be developed by a different specialist at each meeting, and an evaluation sheet of the development of the same. This had to be answered before the next meeting that repeated the routine in each case: previous shipments, meeting with the exhibitor, participation of attendees, and resending of the evaluation. In the fourth and last meeting we put into play evaluation dynamics of the Virtual Virtual Boy World Project that have left us highly satisfied, with the satisfaction in addition to having all learned a number of didactic and technological resources that will significantly modify our future educational practices ” Lidia Greco commented with satisfaction.

The short films viewed and analyzed were “Campaña por la Paz”, by Miguel Monforte, whose main theme is the right to identity; “Grulla”, by Wanda López Trelles, a work that addresses domestic and media violence, and “Chico Miguel”, a short film directed by Maximiliano Subiela that narrates the relationship and importance of education for children. The lecturers were Miguel Monforte, Gustavo Winkler and Maximiliano Subiela.

Drafting: Miguel Monforte-SIGNIS Argentina