Meet the Takorama Festival and its remarkable film catalogue. The online short film festival for teachers and students (3-18 years old) opened on 1 March 2021 and is freely available until 25 June 2021.
Christophe Defaye: “Elementary and secondary teachers can register their class for free. International rights have been claimed for in-class use for 15 short films. After the festival these titles will be added to the catalogue of our platform that we have developed with the support of the French Ministry of National Education. The festival is open to teachers from around the globe – in our catalogue there are only films without dialogue, which enables their global spreading.”
After registering, teachers receive a list of educational activities, by email, to share with their students after watching the films. Students co-decide about the “children’s prize”, given by all participants.
The Int’l Festival Takorama was born from a Covid-19 initiative in 2020, when the organisation Films For Children collected a series of short films, plus educational material. Christophe Defaye: “The festival explores the themes of humanism, ecology and solidarity, and aims to perceive animation not only as entertainment but also as a communication tool.” Feedback from teachers and children has been extremely encouraging, as were the numbers of participants: 280,000 students (1,200 classes from 35 countries) have motivated the organisers for another festival edition in 2021.
Among the 15 short films participating this year are titles like OKTAPODI (Gobelins – École de l’image, 2015), VIVAT MUSKETEERS! (Anton Diyakov, 2017), FRENCH ROAST (Fabrice Joubert, 2008), YULIA (Antoine Arditti, 2014) and FLOREANA (Lou Morton, 2018).
Registering can be done on the festival website. Find more info about Takorama.