Due to the worldwide spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are all living in a world suspended where all our habits have been turned upside down. No physical contact and no ordinary activities, such as going to the cinema, a place of entertainment, cultural dissemination and collective sharing of the emotions conveyed by films in the magical darkness of the cinema.

The seasons of foreign language films in the origiinal language for schools aim at improve school students' knowledge of foreign languages through films in the original language. Over the years school students have taken part in the reviews actively examining a wide variety of subjects.
Students' enthusiasm and passion persuaded us not to interrupt the film reviews, which have been ongoing for six years.  Therefore the 7th season of foreign language films in the original language for schools (2020/2021), entitled "Rainbows and clouds: a pandemic report", will be held at a distance.

Schools may enroll sending an e-mail to Mrs.Fabrizia Venuta by Monday the 12th  October 2020.

In the invitation letter to students (downloadable from this page) are specified both project's guidelines and students' tasks.

It is also possible to download the specimens for schools to take part in the project (in which the teachers identified as school representatives must be specified and should be provieded his/her e-mail address and phone) and the authorization to publish students' works and personal data.

This year project is more than ever a work in progress and will be developed together with students and teachers.

The seasons of foreign language films in the original language aims to realize a program made up of different phases in a creative way.

The first step is the development of a flexible and tailored programme for each school, agreed with the school representatives for the film review. Too many are the variables related to students' participation in presence or at a distance, their instrumental equipments (informatic means and subscriptions to platforms for viewing films in the original language) and schools' equipments and to the availability of teachers engaged full time in their teaching activity, to propose a unique program for all.

Through a constant coordination with the teachers of the participating schools, carried out with both individual and collective meetings, the program has been articulated in different phases that will not necessarily follow a strict chronological order and will all be completed by the end of the programme at the end of May 2021:

Phase 1: students are invited to describe one or more experiences made during the first and second "lockdowns" of the pandemic (from 11th March to 3rd May 2020 and from 15th November 2020 to 5th December 2020). The description must be made as a diary page, with a maximum length of 3.100 characters, spaces excluded, in Italian, articulated as follows:
- specify place and date at the top right corner;
- start preferably with a foreign language quotation from a book (also from comics), a film or a song;
- describe a fact or a day of the quarantine period that stroke you in a particular way, explaining the reason, providing details and describing the emotions experienced.

Phase 2: students are invited to watch the trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BusQ9TYgwog) and, if possible, the whole film "Contagion" by Steven Sonderbergh (2011). The director had incredibly imagined nine years ago a pandemic similar to the current one. The purpose of watching the film is to awaken in students emotions related to the pandemic, push them to talk about them and analyze them. Teachers decide whether to have the work done individually, in groups and with or without his presence.

Phase 3: students are invited to freely choose an entertaining film, to spend a couple of hours without thinking about the pandemic. Teachers decide the way in which the movie will be seen according to the contingent conditions. Students must explain the reason for choosing the film and write film's details and/or review turning into film reviewers for a day. The documents must be delivered to the teacher by the deadline they decide and in any case no later than the end of Christmas holidays.

Phase 4:  to be defined according to the development of the pandemic and the consequent modality of lessons' frequency. In this phase it is expected the viewing of a number of films or TV series in the original language with subtitles in Italian. Students will start watching films at home or at school. However, in the event that by May 2021 there will be the conditions for the normal resumption of activities, including that of cinemas, there could be the possibility of organizing a short film season of foreign language films at the Astra cinema only for schools that have joined the project at a distance. The program could include, in addition to the films selected by CLA, some of the titles chosen by students for phase 3, with the distribution in the cinema of the film details and reviews written by them.

Phase 5: refinement and systematization in a single diary for each school of the diary pages written by students during lockdown periods. All the papers will be published in a single volume and there might be the possibility of an electronic or paper publication.


For any information please contact Mrs. Venuta.