About Cinéma Humain
The main intention of Cinéma Humain is to generate innovative ways in which to develop and support creative education. We provide a platform for filmmakers, musicians, social workers, activists and scholars in pursuing a common interest in film’s ability to promote social change.
As an organisation we are motivated to provide a constant flow of creative and intellectual content that provokes awareness, discussion and change within contemporary society. We therefore strive to develop original strategies that engage directly with social advocacy.
We subscribe to the belief that the most effective way to address many contemporary social problems is to initiate awareness through education. We concentrate on the medium of film since we regard it as an effective method to educate through visual creativity and debate.
We thus recognise the inherent educational potential of film. From our perspective, film is not only the result of a creative process, but also an intellectual process. It is a global form of communication that could draw much needed attention to the unacknowledged and the underrepresented.
We see both narrative and documentary films as capable of creating social awareness on many levels. The effects such films generate can ripple far beyond their own lives – especially when applied critically.
Apart from also creating our own material, we invite practitioners and academics interested in the same potential of film to take part in the discussion. The aim is to in this way assign ‘social filmmaking’ greater prominence within the industry and academic field. From an economic and environmental perspective, this includes reflections on the ethical dimensions of current and future film production practices.
Individuals are welcome to submit films, trailers, soundtracks, articles and interviews to this website, all of which will be peer reviewed by a panel of practitioners and academics for its creative, critical and educational content before being published on the website within the appropriate category. All contributions will be fully sited and acknowledge.
Cinéma Humain also invites social filmmakers and organisations to join the network so as to make contact with like-minded individuals. In this way, we hope to promote co-productions and the exchange of creative/intellectual interests. Our network is encouraged by the ever-growing demand for “social filmmaking” to be recognised as a form with impact within the creative and intellectual industries as well as within the social world at large.