The Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, through the call “Cinema for School – Best Practices, Reviews and Festivals” have awarded and funded the “Action Movies” Project presented by the Umbria Film Festival “Association” in partnership with the Municipality of Montone, The “Comprehensive Institute of Umbertide-Montone-Pietralunga” and the Leonardo da Vinci Campus of Umbertide.

In 2020, with the outbreak of the pandemic, the Action Movies project aimed to create moments of entertainment and creativity for children in the Municipality of Montone who were confined at home due to the general lockdown.

In March and April, we produced the short film Drawings 2020 directed by Lone Scherfig, which portrayed the dreams and hopes of 18 children from Montone.

In the summer, when regulations allowed, we organized an “Action Movies” Campus from July 20th to August 1st at the Montone Primary School, where we offered activities related to cinema and more for 42 children (divided into 2 groups of 21 present each week) who were able to create animated short films using the Stop Motion technique with drawings and plasticine characters.

For 5 students aged 14 to 18 from the Da Vinci Campus in Umbertide, we conducted a course in Documentary and Film Photography and a course for subtitle creators and translators, thanks to the synergy with the University of Bologna’s Forlì Campus of the School of Languages and Literature, Translation and Interpretation, and with the Universities of Turin and Modena-Reggio Emilia.

From August 5th to 9th, we hosted as always the “Short Films for Children” Competition, and a jury of 40 children each evening evaluated the competing short films and watched the screening of their own works created during the project.

Seeing the children in the square during the festival evenings “sternly” judging the competing short films has always filled our eyes and hearts with strong emotions. This is where Action Movies comes from, a project that aims to involve students of all ages from school hours, introduce them to the world of cinema, and nurture in them the desire to be part of this magic.

The school premises and Montone itself became, for a few months, places to hold workshops and shoot films, like real film studios, which seem so distant to those living in Umbria, but which find expression in this project.

Every child should find a way to express their creativity; we have provided them with the means we have, the experience of the Umbria Film Festival, the passion of those who work there, and the best teachers in the field of cinematography.
We hope that these children will one day choose, thanks to this experience, cinema as a form of self-expression.

Project Partners

• Umbria Film Festival – Lead Partner
• Istituto Comprensivo Umbertide-Montone-Pietralunga
• Leonardo da Vinci Campus in Umbertide
• Municipality of Montone

WORKS PRODUCED