Introduction to film criticism for young people from France and Germany

After a year-long cultural vacuum and a very difficult time for young people, the French-German Youth Office (FGYO) is delighted to attend the 2021 Cannes Film Festival alongside La Semaine de la Critique. 

This year, our French-German film literacy workshop will have a distinctive feel to it; it’ll be distinctive because we can once again move, art and cinema can resume and young people can meet again. Whether they meet around sports, science, school, work or art, these events are more important than they have ever been. At a time when youths are affected by the aftermath of the pandemic, international exchange programmes are an opportunity to learn more about oneself by learning about others, to build one’s self-confidence and one’s CV but beyond this, it’s the opportunity to strengthen European unity through dialogue and the ties that are established at these events. 

During the world’s biggest film festival, 20 young French and German pupils will once again have the unique opportunity to question the way they relate to images and discuss the films they will discover. They will take part in an adventure that is usually for film lovers only. In sharing and confronting their perspectives, not only with with their peers but with professionals as well, they will learn to decode images and put the words on their feelings. 

Images that feed your soul, words that help you grow and events that help us build a future together: Long live cinema! Long live European youth! 

And a happy birthday to La Semaine de la Critique! 

Anne Tallineau et Tobias Bütow
General Secretaries | OFAJ