Ale Kino! Industry / Education Pro

Ale Kino! Industry / Education Pro is a fringe event of the Ale Kino! Festival, serving as an all encompassing platform for open meetings and discussions about cinema for children dedicated to the representatives of the film community and educators.

At the beginning of the 21st century, Polish feature film for children essentially disappeared from the screens, and animation productions were marginal. The few exceptions, as outstanding as they may have been, only proved the rule. Fortunately, after over a decade-long dry spell, we are slowly starting to see a shift in this truly unfavourable state of reality. New is coming. Something important is happening. Gradually, screenwriters, directors and producers are turning to cinema for the youngest not as an insignificant genre with little perspectives, but as a potential means of artistic expression and dialogue with an interesting audience, and are beginning to realise the untapped business potential it carries. Very promising initiatives supporting the development of a new Polish cinema for children are emerging.
We want to actively contribute to this movement, which is why, among other efforts, we are including Ale Kino! Industry / Education Pro in the Festival programme with the purpose of creating an open forum for debate on cinema for children with the joint participation of the representatives of the film and education communities. It is this “sense of commonness” that we consider the highest value of the project. Every year, the festival is visited by exceptional teachers, who combine top notch educational professionalism and expertise with a passion for film. For their students, those educators are true guides in the world of cinema. For them, watching films together is a tremendous pedagogical and educational opportunity, going far beyond stereotypical cinema entertainment or obligatory reading assignments. In our opinion, their expertise and experience in working with the youngest provide an excellent basis for discussion about films for children.
This dialogue is a pure win win situation, beneficial for all parties involved: the filmmakers get a better picture of their future audience and learn to understand the viewers’ needs and interests, whereas the teachers gain a deeper understanding of the filmmaking and film distribution process, as well as get to know the people involved.

Jerzy Moszkowicz

The initiative is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.