Critical Film Education

Given the daily flood of images we are confronted with, their content and aesthetics must be deciphered. There are considerable gaps in critical media education, particularly with regard to the manifestations of visual antigypsyism as a historically effective form of prejudice. 

Previous research on the subject shows that stereotypes and prejudices are subtly or openly omnipresent, are preserved in transformative ways, and are often based on traditional images and perceptions of European culture, which continue to exist with astonishing consistency.

Education through film works in a specific way – not only by conveying certain content and thus broadening the viewer's experience, but also when this content is analysed in terms of its visual language and aesthetics. Feature films in particular operate with patterns, quotations and references that originate in the tradition of the genre or even refer transmedially to paintings or older literature.

Against this backdrop, we understand critical media literacy as the ability to reflectively understand the reception of visual products, enabling a ‘change of perspective’ that includes questions about the conditions under which films are produced, representation and empowerment. To this end, we offer analytical tools based on research into a wide range of historical and current media formats on the subject. The team organises workshops and events that also expand knowledge of media forms of representation that offer artistic counterstrategies. All results are made available to an interested public in the form of educational materials.