Afterschool

Cinema has become the most popular and present art form in the lives of young people. The audiovisual image is so suggestive that it influences how young people think about life, how they perceive history and how they perceive the world. With the help of films, it is possible to illustrate different topics, learn about personalities, analyse relationships and connections between social processes. Film can also be viewed in terms of visual metaphors, artistic styles and technical possibilities. And in this process of learning about cinema, educators play a crucial role. The lecturer will present the necessity for film education and demonstrate pedagogical approaches to teaching, based on the research of the French essayist, teacher and educational worker Alain Bergel as well as Daniela`s own experience in working with young people at the Antoine Doinel Film School.

Associations play an important role in the system of film production and perception – what methods are being used in the film to address the viewer and how the viewer "reads" it. There are stages in the history of film to which the word "poetic" is applied, for example, French poetic realism refers to films made in a certain aesthetic in the 20th century. In the 1930s, with the film "White Bells" (Ivars Kraulītis, 1961), a new stage in Latvian cinema begins – poetic documentary cinema. In the following decades, several Latvian documentary filmmakers of the new generation made important films characterized by personal handwriting, metaphors, and subtle visual style. It is possible to analyse the film as a text, for example poetry, in which a wide and interesting field of meanings can be revealed behind the words.

Historical films are not a genre. Historicity in film is rather a wordplay – film plots are based on facts, real events or personalities and there is an authentically portrayed and reconstructed era or time period. Simultaneously, historical films are a visual play with time because with the help of film it is possible to rewrite or interpret the course of history. Likewise, to document the present - our time and society; there is a common claim that "all cinema is documentary" because every film contains information about the era in which it was made.

The lecture will examine the development of historical films in cinema, starting with war and historical epics and ending with period dramas or costume dramas and docudramas (so-called docu-fictions). One should consider what does "historicity" in cinema mean - how historically accurate must a film be and is cinema not allowed to falsify history (revisionist, propaganda and (post)colonialist cinema)? And finally, what is the role of cinema as a bearer of historical memory and how can these films be integrated into the learning process?

The protagonist of coming-of-age stories is a young person who, as a result of some event, undergoes a transformation in their coming-of-age process. This transformation is usually based on a dramatic conflict that leads to the character's "initiation", which can take the form of finding one's place in life, finding forgiveness, acceptance, or some kind of breakthrough.

Stories about young people can be found in both "old" ("400 Blows", "Zero for Conduct", etc.) and new films ("Boyhood”, "Lady Bird", "Mommy, I love you", "Lame-os" etc.), confirming that growing up has its own difficulties as well as beauty - both in life and on the screen.

Coming-of-age stories offer an opportunity to see, recognise and talk about what is sometimes difficult to talk about without the help of films.

With the growing popularity and consumption rates of streaming platforms, TV shows are an increasingly integral part in the cinema of the youth; they create not only an understanding of the dominant narratives of relationships, but also create an idea of certain techniques of building a typology of visuality and images.

As part of her lecture, the Marta Elīna will examine three main topics in historical context: 1) the most popular narratives; 2) characters and representation of an inclusive society; 3) visual stylistics and cinematographic qualities. By getting an idea of what young people are watching, it is possible to better see and understand that viewer too.

The so-called Marvel films (created in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) are not separate entities but are connected to each other, forming a whole world or, as the name suggests, a Universe. Although the films are based on a relatively simple structure (the world must be saved from a powerful villain, and the hero/heroine or group of heroes must gather their strength to face him/her), the films are based on complex psychology of the heroes and villains. Using hypnotic visuals, Marvel films draw attention to timeless themes: the power of friendship, love, good intentions and the continuity of certain actions in the fight against evil.

These stories, although in the films they transgress the limits of the Earth and human possibilities, can lead young viewers to the topic of heroes in literature, history and, ultimately, in the current political reality.