CINE MIND

The activity is inspired by the workshop proposed by the Greek partner DAFNI on a Cineforum with an interrupted ending, in order to solicit an imaginative function and create by the participants a different ending.

The objective is aimed at creating a graft between this Cineforum model and DUN’s Film Workshop activity through: education on the iconic language of cinema and introduction to the sand play therapy method, film screening with shared elaboration in the group of the narrated story, active imagination in finding connections with one’s own biography, transcription of the filmic and inner experience into the sand play therapy tray.

Educational activities based on art-therapy for social inclusion through art-craft approaches, autobiographical storytelling techniques and digital storytelling to support migrant women in self-awareness and empowerment projects, both in-person and remote.

This kit describes how to prepare activities and materials, offers evaluation and self-assessment models of activities and outcomes, making it easier to use this tool and to reproduce proposed activities.

Educational activities based on visual and imaginative art for social inclusion through film viewing integrated with sand play therapy method, autobiographical storytelling and storytelling techniques to support migrant women in self-awareness and empowerment projects. The workshop will be held in presence.

This workshop is addressed to migrant women of different nationalities of 20 to 50 years old.

The overall objectives are psychological support and care. The initiative aims to engage women in cross-cultural dialogue and reflection on issues of migration, human rights, sustainability, and social ethics through art.

Means of artistic expression, such as film, can promote greater understanding of migration issues, empathy, mirroring and empathizing with the traumatic aspects of the stories being told.

Specific objectives are to help women reflect on themselves, redefine their life stories, represent them through sand play, and inspire new narratives. The beneficiaries increase self-awareness, their own empowerment, and their confidence in themselves and in the community.

Preliminary meetings on education in the symbolic language of cinema and the sand play method. Film viewing at the association’s headquarters and at movie theaters.
Recording of the discussion with the women. Photographs of the sands made by each of them: mirroring the interweaving of film work and autobiography.

Seeking a dedicated space to watch the selected films (a movie theater) and a space where they can have preliminary meetings to learn about the method, and subsequent meetings to process the film and practice sand play.
Have all materials available for sand play, for recording dialogue on the themes proposed by the film. Photographic report of the sands.

There are 2 phases:

*The first is preparatory and consists of 4 meetings (two of watching film clips that have highly symbolic value; another two meetings of explaining and educating on the sand play therapy method by watching sand sequences related to clinical pathways). In summary we reflect on the proposed experiential path: viewing of the films followed by discussion of the theme, with autobiographical references and sand creation. Average duration of meetings: 4 hours.

*The second phase includes the following stages sequentially and has a duration of about 5 hours including the screening of the film at the movie theater:

1. Participants are invited by scheduling together the day, date and chosen film.
2. Screening of selected films on the themes of Human Rights, Inclusion and against violence against women. (In the proposed work, the short film made by DUN “Welcome to the river” about human trafficking and the crime of Trafficking and psychological care through sand play therapy will be screened).
3. After each film viewing will follow the dialogue, moderated by a presenter with psychosocial and film expertise.
4. A personal interpretation of the ending of the narrated story, one’s own vision of how the plot could have turned out differently from the film script, is provided – during the subsequent dialogue about the film. This exercise in active imagination provides the basis for further reflection on one’s inner self, which can be shared within the group. It will also be a way to process together, in an affective and trusting atmosphere, one’s life experiences, mostly related to the migration journey, place of origin, and host country. Elaborations that can be transcribed in the form of an image in the scene of a collective sand.
5. Such reflections could become, as happened with the short film Welcome to the river, the canvas for new scripts to be shared through the making of other short films.

At every stage of the experience, close attention and listening will be paid to everything that happens and what the participants express about the experience they are having. This will allow continuous feedback on the creative act, which will put them in touch with deep, partly unknown aspects. This will lead to greater self-awareness and a deeper understanding of the relationship with the other.

Touching personal and traumatic points can create moments of great emotion and emergence of fears related to migration wounds. In this regard, it is important to make available individual and group psychotherapeutic spaces in extra-laboratory settings dedicated specifically to psychological care.

n the initial phase of the workshop, the group’s working methods are shared, which include:

• Confidentiality, empathy;
• Absence of judgment, and thus acceptance of different stories;
• we can share what we want;
• we ask the group if they have other proposals;

If the workshop includes the possible sharing of stories externally as well, we will specify that this action is obviously not mandatory, although we invite experimentation with this additional step, especially with regard to the possibility of voicing personal cues that could be organized into filmic narratives (documentaries, short films).

Should particularly emotionally charged experiences emerge, in addition to immediate containment and support, it would be important to be able to offer an individual therapeutic space where such experiences can be processed, as, for example, is often necessary for traumatic experiences.

In the context of Cineforum, the number of people is small to make a more intimate and trusting atmosphere, so it is not considered appropriate to divide the group, because the purpose would also be to create a nurturing and ongoing group dialogue to facilitate and enhance the integration experience among migrant women.

3/3 – The complexity of carrying out the proposed activity does not lie so much in the large amount of material, but in the time to carry it out and the need for adequate professional training aimed at psychological accommodation and psychotherapeutic support for the participating women. It also necessitates that the facilitator has a creative sensibility and a thorough knowledge of the language of images both in the field of film and in the method of sand play therapy.