The CILECT1 Congress Guadalajara 2025 addressed the contemporary challenge of answering the critical questions: “What films to make?”, “For whom to make them?” and “Why make them?” It seeks to create a space for dialogue between educators who share the mission of inspiring the next generation of filmmakers. The conference focuses on Filmmaking educators from around the world.
I attended the conference with the workshop The Emotional Architecture of Storytelling: Ownership, Emotion, and the Ethics of Narratives2
The workshop The Canon is a Curriculum: A Participatory Workshop on Diversifying Film Education3 (de Gussem, 2025) was very illustrative because de Gussem faced some of the same problems I face with the students I teach. In the case of MA Global Collaborative Practice and the Graduate Diploma Graphic Design, I have students who come from all over the world, from different cultures, but also from different backgrounds. The students who enrol in these courses are not necessarily graphic designers.
For de Gussem, her script writing workshops face similar challenges due to cultural and background differences. She adapted her course, described by her as “very westernised”, to a more inclusive approach by collaboratively encouraging students to share stories connected to their own cultures, then exploring commonalities, characteristics, narrative styles, etc., to discuss what each structure offers in terms of meaning and worldview. I’m not entirely sure how I could implement something like this in the different courses I teach, but it’s worth considering this approach.
In the workshop “Compassion Revolution“4 (Westgård H., Nåls J., Norrman K., Meyers S., 2025), the authors discussed how compassion is central to understanding organisations and leadership. It was a lovely way of seeing education focusing on something completely different from the topics and the skills students need to learn. They not only talked about the importance of generating safe spaces in the classrooms but also on how sharing and being vulnerable together is also a way of caring. In their spaces, everyone is the same and everyone is equal, meaning everyone shares, and teachers also share. The things shared in the sessions are not to leave the space or time of the sharing.
Ana de Beus also touched on in her workshop5 that to create a safe space is also important to allow people to have their own boundaries. She also mentioned that it’s essential not to be scared of triggers, as they are a normal part of being human.
For me, these two workshops were brilliant because, based on my experience at UAL and in the Pg.Cert., everyone tells you that you must avoid triggers at all costs. I understand why they say that, and I also think it is important to be aware of triggers and to be cautious. However, the fact that educators are avoiding triggers and trigger subjects does not necessarily help create safe environments. How can it be a safe space if even educators are afraid to talk about certain topics? It’s like we are creating taboos instead of establishing safe spaces where students can feel completely free to be their whole selves, knowing they will be supported if something becomes too emotional.
I think all these topics are extremely important and also require much more reflection and thought. However, I wanted to acknowledge them while they are still fresh in my mind, as I wait to take the plane back from Mexico to London.
- CILECT is the Association internationale des ecoles de cinema, d’audiovisuel et des medias (The International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools) ↩︎
- [1] See the workshop information here: https://www.cilectcongress2025.com/copy-of-roberto-moreira ↩︎
- See the workshop information here: https://www.cilectcongress2025.com/copy-of-sharad-raj ↩︎
- See the workshop information here: https://www.cilectcongress2025.com/copy-of-fulten-larlar ↩︎
- Inner Compass: Personal Development as a Foundation for Ethical Filmmaking: Inner Compass: Personal Development as a Foundation for Ethical Filmmaking: https://www.cilectcongress2025.com/copy-of-fulten-larlar ↩︎