At the Venice International Film Festival, which ended just a few days ago, a debate arose on the educational value of short films. The event ‘Media Education: the educational power of short films’, organised by Gruppo Spaggiari Parma in collaboration with WeShort and Venice Production Bridge, saw school administrators, cultural institutions and audiovisual professionals discuss how short films can be transformed from an extracurricular activity into a curricular tool capable of stimulating critical thinking and reducing school dropout rates.
During the meeting, the ClasseViva Extra Award was presented for the first time to the educational short film Next One by Guglielmo Poggi and Marta Pozzan, a work that courageously tackles the issue of gender-based violence, recognised for its civic commitment and educational value. The film will be the first title made available through ClasseViva Extra, the new platform developed by Gruppo Spaggiari Parma, in collaboration with WeShort.
The collaboration between WeShort, the global platform dedicated to short films, and Gruppo Spaggiari Parma, which operates in digital services for schools, marks an important step because, for the first time, short films are officially entering an educational distribution channel, accessible directly to millions of Italian students through the ClasseViva Extra app.
With this initiative, thousands of high-quality short films, selected from the WeShort catalogue, become innovative teaching tools available to primary and secondary schools. A veritable ‘short film streaming platform for schools’, it integrates contemporary audiovisual languages into everyday teaching, enhancing creativity and critical thinking.
“Over the years, we have realised that alongside ordinary teaching, there are extraordinary experiences that deserve to be promoted. ClasseViva Extra was created precisely to give a voice to good schools and offer innovative tools such as short films,” says Nicola De Cesare, CEO of Gruppo Spaggiari Parma, in a statement.
“Short films have the power to touch people’s hearts without requiring the length of a traditional film,” adds Alex Loprieno, founder and CEO of WeShort. “Our mission is to bring short films in an accessible and structured way to as many schools as possible, from primary to secondary. The collaboration with Gruppo Spaggiari Parma allows us to realise this project. Through ClasseViva Extra, students can access short films selected by WeShort, starting with Next One, which won an award in Venice.”
The debate in Venice gave a voice to school administrators, educators and cultural operators, including the National Cinema Museum in Turin, AIEF (Italian Association of Financial Educators), Giffoni Innovation Hub and Lago Film Fest, who emphasised how image education is a priority in an era dominated by visual languages. The integration of WeShort into ClasseViva Extra therefore represents not only a technological and distributional innovation, but also a cultural turning point: short films become an integral part of the educational process, capable of exciting, educating and opening up new perspectives for the younger generations. This collaboration takes the audience of the future by the hand, bringing young people closer to cinema, art and culture, with the noble aim of bringing more cinema into school life.
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