Film Education


Projects for children
Over the years, KAVI has developed a variety of projects in our film education work that are remembered fondly by participants. One of our most impressive projects was the “Boisterous Silence” (Riehakkaat mykät) project, organized together with the Helsinki Festival and the Helsinki City Education Department’s Media Centre, in which three classes of schoolchildren created music for Charlie Chaplin films. The project was led by musician Miro Mantere, who worked with the classes both at their school and in the studios of the Media Centre.
A participatory live music film concert produced for the Finnish Cultural Foundation–funded national Art Testers project was a kind of continuation of the Boisterous Silence project. Participants in the concert, which accompanied Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant, were introduced to Foley art and helped create sound effects. Alongside Miro Mantere, musicians Kaj Mäki-Ullakko and Lauri Levanto were also featured in the event.
Special animation workshops, developed with animator Tuomas Heimala and the Media Centre, have been offered since 2009. Cooperation has since continued with the Cultural Factory Vernissa and the Animation Station located there.
KAVI and schools
KAVI’s unit for the promotion of audiovisual culture is involved in a variety of film education projects approaching film from different perspectives. The impetus for the Illusia Film Festival for children and young adults was a new international film. The nationwide School Film Week [in Finnish] that KAVI organizes together with the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers emphasizes film education as well as Finnish film history and culture. With its national Laudatur project, the School Cinema Association provides film education for teachers in training.
Audience development work is also carried out more broadly through KAVI’s screening programmes. For example, lecture and film series illuminating the history of film that have been organized in cooperation with the University of Helsinki have resulted in a renewed interest in silent films. In addition, by using innovative methods to present our programmes, we have drawn new audiences and increased interest in film culture.