Bambini-si-raccontano

I bambini si raccontano in video (Children tell themselves in video)
International audiovisual exhibition of authors and protagonists under 14 years, for an open communication between generations, friendship and peace.
First edition, Brescia, Italy, 2024.

Today, audiovisual tools, photo and video cameras, mobile phones, are in the hands of everyone, including children, and it is important, in school and in society, ensure literacy to the universal language through which much of the communication on the planet takes place, and education to its active and conscious use, considering the opportunities and risks of content distribution through the Web.
With very powerful means literally accessible as a child's play, children can however also express themselves in the first person as it had never been possible before and tell of themselves, in a shared, collaborative, played way, with educators and with peers, proposing a use of the means often well beyond the cliches and market conditioning.
Paolo Beneventi is active in the international movement of "media education", in Italy and in other countries, and over the decades has led experiences as an external expert in many schools of Brescia and province, primary, middle and kindergarten: creative dramatics, storytelling, playing with the language of advertising, use of video and computer, explorations in nature to meet plants and animals with macro photography.
We began to collect in a multimedia library online videos and works from all over the world, with authors or protagonists children and young people up to 14 years who, with their presence, even with their voices, can communicate directly a strong message of hope, peace, intelligence, probably a surprise for a public opinion that usually identifies distractedly the culture of young generations in what they are given to consume, television, video games, internet.
The point of view of real children, when they play and work together, can teach us a lot.

The exhibition "Children Tell Themselves" will take place in two moments: a preview, June 2024, during which in a city space it will be presented to the citizens, with a screening of a first selection of works by children; three days of convention, in autumn 2024 with public projections, meetings in schools among educators, experts also international, interested citizens. It is the first moment of a journey to be continued over the years in Brescia and other places in Italy and the world, and deepen on the Web.
In the meantime, we collect materials from everyone who join the project, without time limits (indeed it is useful to recover also significant works produced over the years), addressing in particular to the schools of the city and surroundings and inviting them to participate with audiovisual and multimedia, present, recent, or from the past.
The review, not competitive - the prize for all is the exposure online in the library and the active participation in the movement that is being built - presents a limited number of works, so that those interested can see them all, think together and build a shared path of reflections and possible further projects. It is prepared in the previous months by coordinated activities with national and international interlocutors who, on the topic Children Producers of Culture, choose to participate with ideas and content and, at local level, with workshops in schools on request.
The material produced and collected during the preparation phase and the days, is made available in a section of the online library and becomes the basis for the organization of subsequent reviews.

Organization: Ass. Culturale Fikri - L'idea di creare
Organizing secretary: Margherita Andeni, tel. + 39 334 752 6944
Art direction: Paolo Beneventi, tel. +39 333 3296 706
email: ass.fikri.lideadicreare@gmail.com
Brescia, November 2023