Beyond the Screen: Italy Through Cinema in The Remote Classroom of the Rede Andifes - ISF

Abstract

In times of pandemic and distance education, we have been called upon to join forces to deal with uncertainties, and thus the courses Pomeriggio al cinema and Serata al cinema, which seek plural perspectives for the context of Italian language learning, have (re)arisen at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) and the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), both supported by the Italian Embassy and members of the Rede Andifes - IsF. Revisiting themes such as fascism, war, Mafia, elections, minorities and language policies, students had the opportunity to reflect on social issues not only in films, but also in their own reality. For the realization of these online lessons during 2020 and 2021, film productions that mobilized different reflections were chosen; among them, we highlight those selected for Cycle 4, in which historical, political and social issues of the Italian context were  addressed by working on the films Parenti Serpenti (1992), Metti la nonna in freezer (2018), Rosso come il cielo (2006) and Il Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (1988). As we were able to observe at the end of the activities,
discussions on the social issues raised by the themes addressed in each film applied to both the Italian and Brazilian realities and contexts. Based on the assumption that the teacher is an important collaborating agent and shaper of critical, social and political thinking, this article reports experiences of reflection elicited by social issues in some Italian films and contributions to promoting criticality in
language pedagogy.