- High-scale recognition by the world’s educational, scientific, cultural, audio-visual, and artistic communities.
- Prospects for professional and personal growth for students, teachers and staff members through participation in a multitude of networking collaborations (regional or inter-regional workshops, conferences, symposia, festivals, co-productions, etc.).
- Exchange or joint development of curricular plans and programs.
- Access to classic and little-known professional and student films.
- Exposure to managerial and methodological best practices as well as research and teaching materials of rare kinds.
- Establishment of long-term professional and personal relations between high-quality experts, educators, student peers and staff on a global basis.
- Acquiring of knowledge about and understanding of indigenous cultural, artistic and educational diversity in countries all over the world.
About
The International Association of Film and Television Schools (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision – CILECT) was founded in Cannes, France, in 1954 at the proposal of Marcel L’Herbier (IDHEC President) and Rémy Tessonneau (IDHEC General Director) who gathered together for the first time higher education film school representatives from France, Italy, Poland, Spain, UK, USA and USSR.
By 2024 CILECT includes 186+ film, TV and media schools from 63+ 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.
CILECT believes in the inherent inter-connectivity of humankind and fully supports creativity, diversity, cross-cultural thinking and sustainable development as fundamental prerequisites to human existence and progress.
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.
63
countries
186
schools
11,000+
teachers
90,000+
students
1,600,000+
alumni network
Membership Benefits
CILECT CONGRESS
The CILECT CONGRESS includes an annual CONFERENCE which is organized around one or more central theme(s) judged to be of concern to the membership as a whole.
Most often it is dedicated to specific methodological or practical aspects of teaching in any of the major fields of the profession: screenwriting, directing, cinematography, set & costume design, music & sound design, editing, producing, distribution, acting, theory & history, etc.
Sometimes it concentrates on topics that apply to all of these fields, such as the impact of digital technologies on curricula; the teaching of creativity; production for children; etc.
At other times it focuses on specific areas, such as teaching documentary, animation or new media; the triangle of training (producers, directors and screenwriters); the tools of pre-visualization, building audio-visually literate audiences, ethics/aestetics, etc.
Finally, it could be centered on the development of the association as a whole through a detailed assessment of all its projects, methods of teaching or communication, etc.
The CILECT CONGRESS also includes the GENERAL ASSEMBLY which deals with organizational matters of the association, and therefore is an internal event, intended mainly for the top administrators of the member schools who need to synchronize their efforts in maintaining the highest standards of film, television, and new media education.
CILECT Regional Conferences
To better achieve its objectives CILECT has created five regions:
- CAPA (CILECT Asia-Pacific Association)
- CARA (CILECT African Regional Association)
- CIBA (CILECT Ibero-American Association)
- CNA (CILECT North American Association)
- GEECT (Groupement Européen des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision)
Annual REGIONAL CONFERENCES are becoming more and more important in recent years as they give the members a chance to meet in a less formal working atmosphere, to introduce each other’s programs in details and to discuss extremely focused themes in small groups. These are also the best ambiances to form bilateral or multi-lateral agreements.
THE CILECT PRIZE
THE CILECT PRIZE was founded in 2005 at the proposal of Prof. Dr. Stanislav Semerdjiev (NATFA, Sofia, Bulgaria). It strives to facilitate the CILECT Full Member schools with a representative annual showcase of the best student short films which could then become quality teaching examples in the schools’ curricula.
THE CILECT PRIZE is also the first ever international award bestowed to a student film not by jury members but by the whole community of CILECT. Annually, close to 300 films are being watched by 30 000+ students and teachers in the CILECT schools and later on, voted upon as the best films of the association or of its regions.
The formal inauguration of the award in each category (fiction, documentary and animation) is held at the annual congresses of CILECT where all the winners are screened and their teams are invited to meet the CILECT teaching community. The first such ceremony took place in Madrid, on 21 November 2006.
The CILECT Teaching Award
As a means to recognize and reward excellence in film, TV and media pedagogy within the organization, at the proposal of CILECT Executive Director Prof. Dr. Stanislav Semerdjiev, in 2014 CILECT instituted its annual TEACHING AWARD.
- Up to three awards are granted each year.
- Candidates for the award can only be nominated by Full Member Schools in good standing.
- One school can nominate only ONE candidate.
- Candidates may be nominated up to a total of three (3) separate years OR until they are selected as a Teaching Award recipient.
- No Teaching Award recipient may be re-nominated.
- The CILECT Executive Council reviews all the dossiers and takes the final decision.
- Winners are presented and awarded at the annual CILECT Congress.
THE ETHICS LAB
The Ethics Lab project was proposed by Dr. Dan Geva, Beit Berl College, Israel, at the CILECT Congress 2016 (GFS, Brisbane, Australia). At the initiative of Prof. Dr. Maria Dora Mourão (CILECT President 2011-2018, Honorary Member, USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Prof. Bruce Sheridan (CILECT President 2018-2024, CCC, Chicago, USA), in 2017 the ETHICS LAB Project was ratified at the CILECT Congress 2017 (ZHDK, Zurich, Switzerland).
Between 2018-2022 Dr. Geva performed a world-wide pilot tour to 22 institutions scattered in CILECT’s five regions, and organized more than 50 workshops and Ethics Lab events at which he gathered over 500 video testimonials about meaningful ethical dilemmas in students’, teachers’ and staff’s careers.
The project has the ambition to expand the pedagogy to include ethical perspectives from Africa, the Maori tradition, Buddhist, Shinto, Zen, Aboriginal, North and South Native American, and any other ethical perspective that reflects CILECT’s global identity, thus far unintroduced in the current teachings.
It is also expected that the lab’s core pedagogical principle of “a single-person testimonial” could be developed into a “multi-person testimonial” embedding empathy-inducing actions, complex forms of narrative-telling, and drama-based models of role-playing and shared group effort.
SCEDI
Standing Committee for Equity, Diversity and InclusionThe Standing Committee for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (SCEDI) was formally established at the CILECT Congress 2018 (WWI, Mumbai, India) with a mandate to focus on topics of equity, diversity and inclusion in a range of areas including race, ethnicity, gender, class, abilities, age and indigeneity, with each member bringing the perspective of their own region to the committee. The formation of the committee arose from the Culture Shift presentation made at the CILECT Congress 2016 (GFS, Brisbane, Australia), by Barbara Evans (York U, Toronto, Canada) and Karla Berry (UFVA, USA).
A number of SCEDI activities have been held since its inception:
- The annual inauguration of a Certificate of Recognition for a student film that enriches humanity and exemplifies the goals of SCEDI;
- The inclusion of at least one Keynote Speaker at the annual CILECT Congress who would address an aspect of diversity, equity and inclusion;
- The initiation of a number of events and webinars;
- The CILECT Diversity Survey, etc.
THE CILECT 21st Century KNOWLEDGE Project
At the initiative of Prof. Dr. Maria Dora Mourão (Honorary Member, USP, Sao Paulo, Brasil) and the proposal of Prof. Alan Taylor (TUT, Pretoria, South Africa), in 2013 CILECT launched a series of books under the title “The CILECT 21st Century KNOWLEDGE Project”. Each book is focused on the discussion and/or solution seeking of problems arising in front of the creator/teacher in the contemporary audiovisual practice and/or education.
The first volume “Challenges, Clashes, Changes” tried to picture a broad perspective of the audiovisual education in general in the 21st century. The second volume “Directing the Future” was solely dedicated to the professional field of Directing. The third, fourth and fifth volumes were dedicated to Sound, Animation and Documentary. Three new volumes will be published until 2025 – Production Design, Editing, Cinematography.
CILECT Collaboration Activities
CILECT supports financially two types of collaborations between its members: TEACHERS’ FORUMS and PILOTS.
- TEACHERS’ FORUMS are events initiated by and held at CILECT Full Member schools. They provide new knowledge and/or practical experience of pedagogical/research methodologies and/or teaching tools for CILECT teachers. Besides support for the events themselves, CILECT provides Fee Waivers for teachers from all other regions wishing to participate in the forums.
- PILOTS are innovative international collaboration projects between Full Member schools, which are NOT supported by other financing bodies/programs.
