Back to school! After the 2022-2023 collaboration with the Liceo Artistico Statale “M. Guggenheim” in Venice, the school year 2023-2024 sees the research unit of the University of Padua resuming learning activities at three high schools in Veneto and Lombardy: the Liceo Artistico Statale “Nanni Valentini” in Monza, the Liceo Artistico Statale in Verona and the Liceo Artistico Statale “Bruno Munari” in Vittorio Veneto (Treviso). These learning activities are meant to experiment new didactic models for the use of filmic images of landscapes, and conceive of silent cinema – probably the least-known part of Italian film heritage – as an essential source of memories and national identity. Focused on cinema’s role as a historical witness, a chronicler of the metamorphoses of the landscapes and a carrier of symbolic meanings, the learning activities are also meant to stimulate a creative reuse of filmic images as a vital form of reappropriation.
In November 2023 the research unit of the University of Padua launched the first phase of its high-school learning program, which began with a historical-theoretical lecture about silent cinema. This was followed by a series of screenings of silent movies filmed in the cities at which the high schools are located, thereby enabling the students to identify the open-air film sets. Now, in March 2024, the “on-field work” of phase two has started, with the students getting ready to roam the streets of Monza, Milan, Verona and Vittorio Veneto camera in hand, and to “revisualize” through photographs and videos the locations of Italian silent cinema from 100+ years ago. Roll camera… Action!
