On March 25, 2015, from 4.15 until 5.15 p.m., in the White Hall of the Cinema Couse, a presentation by the network of Docudays UA cinema clubs and the online DOCU/CLUB Center will be held. The authors of the project will present their working plans for 2015 regarding the expansion of the cinema club network, the training of moderators, and new film collections for different target audiences.
In 2014, the crew of the Docudays UA Festival, in cooperation with their regional partners, educators and the State Penitentiary Service of Ukraine, created 64 permanent cinema clubs for media education in human rights in 16 regions of Ukraine and in Crimea. 33 of these clubs operate in schools, colleges, universities, libraries and euroclubs, 5 in educational institutions for the employees of the Penitentiary Service, 26 in colonies for the convicted and detention facilities.
The key idea of creating a network of cinema clubs is to make the most of the tools of the Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, in order to raise the level of legal literacy and civic activism in Ukraine.To achieve this aim we created two film collections, 10 films in each, for different audiences; we translated the films, dubbed them with narrations in Ukrainian and published them on DVDs, 1000 copies of each collection.
The best experts in media educations, together with human rights activists, developed and published two manuals in methodology on DVDs for the leaders and moderators of the cinema clubs (film catalogues, plans of discussions and of interactive events for different audiences, advice on how to create a Docudays UA cinema club, classes by international experts, useful links to international and Ukrainian laws and legal documents, a list of expert consultants on various human rights, whom the clubs can invite for film discussions, a list of all-Ukrainian and regional human rights organization, a list of state structures which work in human rights protection, a decree on Docudays UA cinema club, and a form to apply to create a cinema club).
For those who wish to create a cinema club, the best experts in media education and human rights held four training sessions, attended by 39 activists, 5 teachers from educational institutions of the Penitentiary Service, 16 employees of colonies, and 93 secondary school teachers.
In order to provide assistance for the leaders and moderators of cinema clubs, we created an online DOCU/CLUB Center with a film collection (http://docuclub.docudays.org.ua). It has details of all the films included in the collections for Docudays UA cinema clubs, as well as methodological recommendations for their use in cinema clubs. If needed, it is possible to watch every film in low-quality. This option is provided for all the registered participants of the project. All the materials can be used online directly at the website, or be downloaded to your computer in PDF format and printed out. The resource contains examples of our colleagues’ most interesting experiences and achievements, as well as innovations which cinema clubs can use in their work. Here you can submit an application to create your own cinema club, to obtain a DVD copy of the new films in the Docudays UA collection, and to subscribe to a mailing list of DOCU/CLUB Center news, including reports about the latest updates of the media collection and the life of the Network of Regional Partners of the Docudays UA Festival. Only registered users have full access to all the materials and opportunities of the DOCU/CLUB center.
In 2014, the 64 Docudays UA cinema clubs organized 610 events, where 6403 people watched the best documentaries, including both Ukrainian films and others from different countries around the world, discussed them with moderators and human rights activists, and participated in interactive events aimed at deepening their understanding of human rights.
The Campaign for Human Rights in Ukraine Using the Instruments of Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival project is supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine.
The creation of Docudays UA cinema clubs, film collections and the methodological recommendations for them were also supported by NED and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Text by ALLA TIUTIUNNYK, a member of the Docudays UAFestival organizational committee
