The Echegaray Theatre this Monday hosted a day dedicated to education and film, bringing together students, audiovisual sector professionals and environmental experts. The meeting, which is now in its fourth edition at the Festival de Málaga, is organised by Platino EDUCA.
 
The day began with an institutional presentation by Paula Calderón, deputy director of Platino EDUCA, with the participation of Octavio Dapena, director of Platino EDUCA; Manuel Pérez García, representative of the Andalusian School Council, and Juan Antonio Vigar, director of the Festival de Málaga.
 
"Training is very important for the Festival, which is why there are sections and activities linked to organisations that work with young people", said Juan Antonio Vigar on this meeting between the Festival and the Audiovisual Producers' Rights Management Association (EGEDA). "You are the main characters of this present and we trust that you will become the spectators of the future in cinemas", said the director of the Festival de Málaga, addressing an audience made up mainly of various schools in the province of Malaga, who he encouraged to create a relationship with culture from a young age.
 
On behalf of Platino EDUCA, Octavio Dapena took advantage of the presentation to praise the work of the Festival in "making cinema a vehicle for transmitting values". At the same time, he took the opportunity to point out that the bridge course he directs includes over 500 films and that they are doing a great job in literacy training.
 
Manuel Pérez, representing the School Council of Andalusia, highlighted the importance of the event, "which represents the union between education and cinema, two fundamental pillars for the development of culture and critical thinking in our society".
 
The event was also attended by Jesús Saavedra and Lucía Fernández, representatives of the MAJA Awards, who introduced a short fiction film about a secondary school. Attendees were also able to enjoy the projection of the documentary 'Santuario' (2019, Álvaro Longoria), a production which, with the participation of the brothers Javier and Carlos Bardem, deals with marine conservation and the importance of protecting the oceans. 
 
The day concluded with a colloquium with the participation of Álvaro Longoria, founder of Morena Films; Theresa Zabell, Olympic medallist and president of the ECOMAR Foundation, and Cristina Linares, film director and educational coordinator of Platino EDUCA.
 
For Zabell, "cinema is fundamental as an educational tool. It opens a window onto different realities", something which Álvaro Longoría agreed with: "We filmmakers are lucky in that what we do is reach so many people". Both speakers underlined the need to know what is happening to be able to act.
 
The meeting was a perfect opportunity to reaffirm the importance of film as an educational tool and its capacity to raise awareness among the new generations.