Library as a Starting Point for Democratic and Conscious Film Production
Open debates and conversations on responsible film-making ethics to educate local youth.
The Local Challenge
SATIS BU is the audiovisual school library at Aix-Marseilles University, a space where students can consult books and journals, meet and talk about their work and carry out film rehearsals. The students and alumni make up the main library users with alumni now working in the audiovisual sector all over France and abroad. This library and community will hold sessions on ethical film-making, covering race, age, disability and common stereotypes in film-making both behind and in front of the camera for future and current film-makers and the broader community.
The Initiative
The library is creating a ‘democratise library’ space, for local groups as a place to start debates about on-screen representation. The aim is to encourage building a conscious professional ethic in filmmaking, starting with the reflections on script writing: how and why we decide the selection of roles (e.g. women in leadership, people with a different skin colour or accents, people with disabilities, etc.), through to the production and shooting of film content, taking on board environmental responsibility, or eco-responsible film creation. The space is also hosting workshops, podcast making, panel discussions and expert meetings.
What’s Next?
The library and students want to steer the conversation to help explore how reinforcing clichés, images in film, television or advertising reinforces stereotypes and reduces diversity. To counteract inequalities in representation, they want to push for equalities in life. They plan tol create a physical space and want to maintain it and make it accessible to all library users.
This is an ongoing Europe Challenge project that will be completed in autumn 2024. Stay tuned for more updates and contact theeuropechallenge@culturalfoundation.eu if you have any questions or want to be connected with the team behind the project.
