CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS FOR THIS YEAR'S COLLEGIUM:
25 MAY 2008
Applications are invited for the twelve places in the 10th COLLEGIUM (4 - 11 October 2008). Applicants should preferably be under 30 years of age and still, in the broadest sense, pursuing education in cinema.
The Collegium – whose sessions will be open to all guests of the festival and the general public – is an unconventional experiment in the technique of study. It is designed to utilise the unique conditions of the Giornate - a very concentrated one-week event; the possibility to see an extensive collection of rare archival films; the presence in one place and at one time of many (perhaps most) of the world's best qualified experts in film history - scholars, historians, archivists, collectors, critics, academics and just plain enthusiasts.
The aim of the Collegium is to excite a new generation in the idea of cinema history and heritage, and to infiltrate these newcomers into the very special community that has evolved around the Giornate during its twenty-seven years. We want the participants in the Collegium to feel themselves members of that community, not to be awed and intimidated by the age, experience, authority or scholarship of the people they meet in Sacile.
From past years' experience we recognise that we derive the maximum advantage from the special conditions of this short week of concentrated activity by returning to a fundamental, classical concept of study, in which the impetus is the students' curiosity and inquiry rather than the imposition of a formal teaching programme. Hence instead of formal lectures and panels, the daily sessions of the Collegium take the form of a series of "Dialogues", in the Platonic sense, in which the collegians sit down with groups of experts in different aspects of the Giornate programme or in various fields of the study and techniques of film history and conservation.The object of these Dialogues is not only to elicit information and instruction, but to establish personal, social connection between collegians and Pordenone habitues, so that the former will have no inhibitions about approaching the latter, in the course of the week, for supplementary discussion. Naturally collegians are required to see as much of the festival programme as possible.
To focus their inquiry, the members of the Collegium collaborate on the production of a small publication - a collection of papers on themes emerging from or inspired by the encounters of the week. (The papers from the 2006 and 2007 Collegiums will be published in time for this year's festival.) Each of the collegians will be required to work on one essay for this publication, in association with one of the "mentors" - veterans of the previous year's Collegium who return to support and assist the newcomers. The principal source of information for the publication is likely to be interrogation of the appropriate experts present at the Giornate. The aim is that the finished publication will not just be a student exercise, but will provide generally useful reading even for the experts from whose experience and advice it derives, who may discover insights which may not have struck them before.
Applications: The novel form of the Collegium means that we do not look for formal academic or age qualifications in collegians. The qualities we look for in the twelve young people invited each year are enthusiasm, energy and above all curiosity.
Prospective applicants should in the first instance simply write a letter explaining (1) who they are, (2) what is their special interest in film history, (3) what is their experience of silent films and (4) why they feel they are suited to be members of the Collegium, which involves integrating socially with the other collegians and mentors, and making positive contacts with the Pordenone population of film history experts.
Collegians and mentors are given free hotel accommodation and breakfast during the week. They are responsible for their own travel arrangements, meals, and all other expenses.
Letters of application should be e-mailed to the Collegium secretary, Luca Giuliani, at: collegium.gcm@cinetecadelfriuli.org
