Between 2010 and 2014, 58,139 youths and children from 50 schools from the Rio de Janeiro public system have viewed original films geared towards education and citizenship. In 2015, 10 more schools joined the project.
The initiative’s objective is to combine film with education in a learning environment, bringing small award-winning Brazilian productions to students aged 4 to 15 from state and municipal schools from all over Rio de Janeiro state. This year 10 films will be shown, including animated films and fiction, and the expectation is to reach an audience of 10,000 students. In addition to the short film screenings, students are stimulated by the teachers and coordinators to develop projects about the films, through suggestions for handbooks and educational scripts developed by the project according to the educational segment and the programming shown. The project creates and develops four handbooks for each of the segments of Early Childhood Education, Primary School, Middle School and High School.
According to Patricia Piñeiro, Human Resources Director at Valid, a Brazilian company offering solutions for payment methods, telecommunications, identification and digital certification, and who has been sponsoring the event since 2012, the company’s objective is to promote culture among youth, seeking to cultivate critically thinking adults, and to increase their knowledge. “We decided to invest in this initiative because we believe in using culture in the classroom as an effective learning tool,” says Patricia. Circuito Cine Curta 2015 will run between September and October in 10 schools and day cares in Caju, in the central part of Rio de Janeiro.