Cinema Education (CINEDUC) is a tool developed in Rwanda in the early 2000s. It is about showing films to a public embedded in a guided discussion about the topic the film displays. Disseminating information about a problem with the support of audiovisual means bonds the audience tightly to the subject. Thus, ensuring high attention levels, the world of films is an accurate tool to bring a group towards understanding a conflict.
TIP has discovered the value of Cinema Education as early as 2006, having shown more than 50 film shows in different communities in Teso and Karamoja since. Two staff members in TIP choose from a variety of around 20 different movies. The focus of many movies lies on HIV/AIDS. Others handle topics of war and war trauma, misuse of office property, family conflicts, Karamoja region and its distinct difficulties, inheritance, domestic violence and corruption. All of the movies contain conflict situations. TIP considered especially those movies that have a direct relation to our communities.
Before most of the shows, the moderators apply the “barometer of values” – a provocative question or statement relating to the content of the film is put forward to the audience and people are asked to take sides and position themselves in the room according to their judgment. Often, the spectators learn lessons from the film and change their minds about the situation afterwards. Another method is the “play continuation” where the film is cut towards the end and people are encouraged to act out how they feel the story should continue. Whichever method applied, any Cinema Education show always goes with a discussion on the key actions of the film.
Ayub Muhammad, the Communication Officer in TIP, is the one in charge for the Cinema Education tool. He believes in the power of the motion picture: “Cinema Education has had more impact than any other kind of training or classroom work because the participants have a chance to see real life situations and compare them to their own life. People never forget certain situations they have seen in a movie and what they see touches them deeply“.
TIP likes to carry out CINEDUC in schools and open communities. When we show a session in the open, at least 200 people attend, at times reaching up to 500 or even 700 spectators. According to the Communication Officer, the outcome is great: “Once people see a movie, they learn from the weaknesses or strengths, they copy the behaviour to prevent the problems from arising in their communities.”