Bring The Change
The project
The educational project Bring The Change aims to encourage active and constructive reflection among teenagers on what it means to build an inclusive society.
To this end, the project offers an integrated pathway that includes learning the language and storytelling techniques of documentary film, using participatory filmmaking practices, taking part as jurors within the Biografilm Festival, and exploring social cinema through meetings with filmmakers.
Bring The Change is a project by Arca di Noè, part of the Consorzio l’Arcolaio, implemented within the SAI project and in collaboration with SMK Factory, Biografilm Festival, and the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani.
Now in its third edition, Bring The Change aims to create a space for meeting and dialogue among young people through the language of cinema. Film is a strategic tool for fostering new narratives as well as processes of inclusion and social transformation.
Information
Asylum seekers and refugees; Students
Gallery
Previous editions
A cinema, relationships and creativity pathway
In 2024, the programme involves a group of young beneficiaries from the reception projects managed by Arca di Noè and a group of students from the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani.
As in the previous edition, the project offers an integrated learning path on film language to create the “Bring The Change” jury, which will award prizes during the final evening of the 20th edition of the Biografilm Festival (June 7–17, 2024, Bologna), sharing their perspectives with the public and festival guests.
The use of cinematic language aims to encourage reflection on what it means to build an inclusive society, fostering mutual understanding, exchange of experiences, and dialogue within the group.
To support active participation and guide film viewing and evaluation, the workshops provide tools to reinterpret the languages and messages of the selected winning film. This year’s edition introduces a new element: using different expressive languages, including slam poetry, the jury group produced a short video expressing the motivations behind the award, creating a more creative “Bring The Change” jury.
The Bring The Change Award – Biografilm 2024 was presented by the young participants to director Matteo Parisini for LUI SEMPLICEMENTE IO.
The short film “Tracce di parole” is the award dedicated to the winning film, created by the Bring The Change Youth Jury – Biografilm 2024 within the cinema and inclusion workshop promoted by Arca di Noè as part of the SAI (Reception and Integration System) project in Bologna.
Cinema as a driver of inclusion and exchange
In 2023, from April to June, the programme involved class 3ATR from the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani and a group made up of vulnerable beneficiaries of the SAI project and participants from the occupational workshop in Cadriano run by the social cooperative Arca di Noè.
The project, continuing from Bring the Change 2022, is based on the idea that people with disabilities and different life experiences can meet and engage in dialogue. Through different languages, participants took part in a seven-session pathway to approach film language and acquire basic tools to analyse sequences from selected films.
With the aim of breaking down prejudice and fostering empathy among young people, through peer-to-peer education activities, Bring The Change 2023 further developed the creation of youth juries for films selected for the 19th edition of the Biografilm Festival (June 9–19, 2023, Bologna).
The jury workshops were divided into two phases: the first focused on the guided viewing and selection of films by the two youth juries; the second brought the juries together for moments of dialogue and exchange through participatory workshops. Central to these sessions was the valorisation of each participant’s individuality, personal history, and lived experience evoked by the films.
The workshops aimed to build group cohesion through empathy and consensus-based methods, develop listening and communication skills, and introduce basic film language.
In 2023, the winners of the Bring The Change Award Aldini Valeriani and the Bring The Change Award Arca di Noè were:
THE MIND GAME by Sajid Khan Nasiri, Eefje Blankevoort, and Els van Driel.
Stimuli for critical thinking through documentary cinema
In 2022, the project directly involved three classes from the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani, with the aim of gradually expanding to other secondary schools across Italy. To support this goal, a freely accessible film catalogue with accompanying educational activities was created.
Bring The Change, initially developed as a pilot in 2021 by the Associazione Fanatic About Festivals – Biografilm Festival, was implemented in 2022 by SMK Videofactory, active since 2009 in documentary production and distribution, in collaboration with Biografilm Festival and the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani. Additional partners included the school library “Fuori Catalogo”, the Terra di Tutti Film Festival, the social cooperative Arca di Noè, and Zalab. The project was supported by the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna and the Embassy and Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Italy, within the cultural programme (S)punti di Vista.
How the workshop was structured
Bring The Change 2022 was organised into four integrated modules:
- February–March 2022. Documentary language and storytelling education Six in-person sessions including five documentary screenings (social themes, original language with Italian subtitles), five workshops for discussion and analytical tools, one session with Italian director Pierfrancesco Li Donni, and a final masterclass with Dutch directors Joris Postema and Els van Driel.
- April 2022. Participatory filmmaking workshop Students from Aldini Valeriani worked alongside participants with disabilities from Arca di Noè to co-create final videos exploring inclusion and change. The videos were screened at Biografilm Festival (June 2022) and the Terra di Tutti Film Festival (October 2022).
- May–June 2022. Youth jury workshop Participants took part in the youth jury programme during the 18th edition of Biografilm Festival.
- October 2022. Final masterclass on social cinema Held during the 16th edition of the Terra di Tutti Film Festival.
A dedicated educational film catalogue with teaching activities was also produced and made freely available online.
In 2022, the winner of both the Bring The Change Award Aldini Valeriani and the Bring The Change Award Arca di Noè was:
THE STORY WON’T DIE by David Henry Gerson
Bring The Change – Masterclass with Dutch directors Joris Postema and Elsa van Driel – Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani, March 14, 2022.
#RespectAllTheDifferences
How do we fight discrimination? By valuing differences, speaking up, and telling stories based on everyday experience. #RespectAllTheDifferences connects three short films created by students of Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani together with participants from Arca di Noè’s work inclusion programme, within the participatory filmmaking workshop led by SMK Videofactory.
- Questa è la mia voce (2’) | 4aC GC Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani – Arca di Noé – Sara Derario, Lorenzo Paolo Vai, Ettore Carrieri, Margherita Natali, Francesco Puddu, Nicole Marani, Christian Barbieri, Daniele Belleti, Alessia Avallone, Gianluca Scagnet
- Ma li sapete usare quei telefoni? (3’) | 4aA GC Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani – Greta Bongiovanni, Gaia Cacciapuoti, Franco Comellini, Sara Diolaiti, Arianna Pancotti, e con Giacomo Cappelletti
- In a day (2’) | 4aA GC Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Aldini Valeriani – Rachele Baffetti, Martina Bertoncelli, Alex Naldi, Greta Ciancimino, Silvia Trulli, Iris Sabbioni
Let's build new educational pathways together
Do you work in training or social impact projects, and are you a school or university? Contact us to find out how to collaborate.