STUDENT

"Students" - A project of educative and sociological matter
The documentary film “Students” (with shooting done between 2016 and 2019) is an educational project that raises questions about teaching methods, learning, relationship with teachers, students' expectations and their vision of School and the world, at a time when Education in Portugal is facing new challenges and is in a process of change and restructuring. These students are possibly part of the group belonging to an educational model about to be extinguished. Their words are eloquent.
All shooting was authorized by parents and local filming in Portuguese schools was also authorized by the respective school boards. We did the shooting in the José Régio Basic School (Portalegre), S. Lourenço High School (Portalegre), Amares High School (Amares, Braga), College of Amorim (Póvoa de Varzim). However, we only considered the testimonies of students attending 11th and 12th grade, leaving High School. Technical problems prevented us from using the images captured in Amares. However, the number of testimonies is considered sufficient and, in addition, it is possible to guarantee some balance of content, from statements from the north / coast and from the south / interior of our country.
The students directly involved in the project answered 9 questions, which we present:
• What does School mean to you?
• How can School make you a happier person?
• Where do you believe that school fails - if it fails - in what your future needs are and in the process of you becoming a person as a citizen of the world?
• What is hope for you?
• What do you believe in?
• What do you think is wrong in the world?
• Can School make you Human?
• What do you think of success? (of being successful)
• Does what you learn at school tell you anything?
They were also asked to be as free and sincere as possible, something that seems to appear in their answers.
In addition to the testimonies, from shooting moments of School life, there is a narration voice that intends to be as neutral as possible, without interpretive pretensions, but that relies on the students’ ideas and reflections and, to a certain way, questions us as responsible people and witnesses of their future. As an example, the first segment of narration is as follows:
«"Alunos" is a documentary about Portuguese students’ humanity and their opportunity to tell what is not right in the Portuguese educational system, but can be improved, by talking about themselves as students and critical human beings.»