IMA represented at CILECT by Gerda Cammaer and Karen Harnisch

Professors Karen Harnisch and Gerda Cammaer represented The Creative School’s Film program at this year’s International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools’ (CILECT (external link) ) annual congress, which took place at the University of Guadalajara in the last week of October. Organized by DIS (Departamento de Imagen y Sono or Department of Image and Sound), this year’s theme was the transformative power of conscience in twenty-first century cinema, with a central focus on ethics and responsibility in film education. 

Harnisch and Cammaer participated in a variety of workshops, panel discussions and film screenings, including the highlight of the congress: the presentation of the best student film awards-result of an annual worldwide student film competition.

“Going to a CILECT congress is always a valuable experience, as it is the best way to network with film schools from all over the world, and exchange ideas about teaching film in the 21st century,” Cammaer said. “We totally support CILECT’s faith in the inherent inter-connectivity of humankind and how the organization fully supports creativity, diversity, cross-cultural thinking and sustainable development as fundamental prerequisites to human existence and progress.” 

Both Harnisch and Cammaer participated in some plenary sessions on the use of creative AI in filmmaking and how to incorporate AI when teaching film. They also participated in various specialized workshops and panel sessions on storytelling through co-creation, fairness and diversification in film education, and personal development as a foundation for ethical filmmaking.

The past year, Cammaer was an active member of the CILECT Standing Committee on Sustainability and gave two presentations as part of this committee. One was about the Green Library, a collection of scholarly and practical information about sustainable film practices, acting as a resource to help film programs and student film shoots integrate sustainable practices. The other was on practical examples of what can be done when developing curriculum and in the classroom to make filmmaking more sustainable.

This year Cammaer was re-elected member of the CILECT North America council (CNA), representing Canada, which meant she had to step down from the Standing Committee on Sustainability.

“Another bonus of the trip, besides the intense learning experience of being at the Congress, was that this took place during Día de Muertos,” Cammaer said. “It was special to experience this cultural event as it happened. The entire week we saw amazing costumes and decorations everywhere in town, and at the closing dinner we were treated to a wonderful performance with great music and some spectacular costumes.”

CILECT was founded in Cannes, France, in 1954. Today CILECT includes 180+ film, TV and media schools from 60+ countries on 6 continents with 11,000+ teachers and staff that annually train 90,000+ students and communicate with an alumni network over 1,600,000+ strong.

The Film program in IMA has been a full member since 1988 and has since participated in most of the annual congresses and regional conferences of the organization.  As part of full membership, IMA has exclusive access to the best student films produced since 2005.

CILECT is committed to developing and promoting the highest standards of education, research and training for film, television and related media through establishing and organizing global and regional forums for the exchange of artistic, pedagogical, methodological and managerial best practices for all its members. It has five regional councils, of which one is CILECT North America (or CNA). 

The primary purpose of the CILECT Congress is to convene the annual General Assembly, which addresses the internal legislative and organizational matters of the association, making it its highest decision-making body. Some of the main functions of the general assembly are to admit new member schools, amend the CILECT statues, elect the President and Regional Association chairs, establish Regional Associations and standing committees.