Our Cinema: exploring the development and proposal of a new programme of vernacular-based film education in Scotland

Abstract

This article explores the development of the Our Cinema project in Scotland: a revolving annual curriculum of film education for upper primary and lower secondary age children in state schools that, at the time of writing, is approaching a pilot phase. Discussion explores the project’s origins in France’s Cinéma Cent Ans de Jeunesse, and its relationship with the Catalan film education project Cinema en curs, before focusing in particular upon how a school-based programme of film education might seek to explore vernacular conceptions of cinema, through a focus on dialect, place and the lived experiences of participants. The article concludes by offering a detailed, concrete proposal of a film education curriculum, comprising two years (each broken up into 32 weeks) of creative learning activities.