Attending 1st Forum for Film Education by the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis

The inaugural Forum for Film Education organised by the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis & the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis was an inspiring gathering that brought together scholars, filmmakers, educators, curators, and practitioners working across film and media. The two-day event offered a rich cross-disciplinary exchange on the future of film pedagogy, from early childhood screen education to adult media literacy. By joining experts from fields such as anthropology, psychology, programming, and social work, the forum elevated conversations on how moving images shape our understanding of the world and how we can teach and learn through film more responsibly.

As a film educator and film education scholar myself, this forum resonated deeply with my own practice and research. With a background in Art & Education and a master’s thesis dedicated to the "archive effect," I have long been interested in how archival materials can be activated pedagogically, especially in the classroom, where history is too often perceived by students as distant, boring, or unrelated to their lived experience. My work explores how archival footage can expand a history lesson into something embodied and emotionally textured, allowing young learners to develop a more intimate connection with the past and a sharper critical awareness of how images construct historical meaning.

Attending the forum offered me the rare opportunity to situate this research within a broader conversation on film literacy. I found myself returning repeatedly to the question of how we can empower learners not only to decode images but to form personal, ethical, and imaginative relationships with them, an approach that aligns with both my artistic and pedagogical commitments.

With roundtable discussions, panels, a keynote lecture, a VR installation, and even a toddler film screening, the Forum for Film Education offered a diverse program that invited us to reflect on the breadth of contemporary film literacy and curatorial practice. I’m particularly grateful to have had the opportunity to explore new methodologies, archival perspectives, and educational frameworks that can strengthen how we engage with visual culture today, and to connect them back to my own ongoing work in film education and the pedagogical potential of the archive.

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