A few words about the Documentary Academy

The Documentary Academy is the only educational program in Poland based entirely on documentary films that address issues crucial to building a modern civil society. Because it covers topics excluded from ministerial core curricula, it is a unique source of knowledge about both the world and ways of telling about the challenges of modern times.

The films presented in the Documentary Academy were part of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival programs - one of the largest documentary film festivals in the world, winner of prestigious awards, including the Polish Film Institute's award for the most important international film event in Poland, as well as a founding member of the Doc Alliance and, as of 2021, a member of the European Film Academy.

The main topics we cover in the Documentary Academy: 

• safety in the digital world
• climate change and environmental issues
• intercultural competence
• building a civil society

To date, the program has been implemented in elementary schools, secondary schools and universities. It is addressed to all those wishing to improve their knowledge of the surrounding world - also outside the institutional education system. Activities undertaken as part of the Documentary Academy contribute to changing the model of education - to a more participatory, engaging one. 

The Documentary Academy is also a number of series of screenings and lectures aimed at academic youth in cooperation with the University of Warsaw, the University of Gdansk, the University of Wroclaw, SWPS and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. University faculties of the Documentary Academy are film screenings combined with lectures and discussions with the university lecturers, as well as special guests invited by them. They last one semester and end with an exam or a written assignment for a grade - students receive ECTS points. These are innovative projects that are paving the way in a new approach to film education at the university level. Documentary film is used as an excellent source of knowledge. At many universities, Documentary Academy faculties are the first and only faculties of this kind, combining cinema screenings of documentaries with academic study of the subject and discussion. The great interest of students shows the need for new forms of teaching.

The Documentary Academy's activities also included screenings and workshops for teachers, screenings and debates for, among others, parents with children as part of the OKI DOKI series; screenings for seniors, film series for teenagers, as well as intergenerational screenings and debates. 

The Documentary Academy VOD

In pandemic year - 2020, we have successfully created the first-ever hybrid edition of the festival. As a result, the online reach covers the whole of Poland, putting people also in small towns and people with disabilities first. The huge success was further proof to us that it was time to create a new online place for the most interesting documentaries. A place where every person can expand his or her knowledge, look at others with tenderness and concern for the most pressing problems of the modern world - that's why we created the The Documentary Academy VOD. 

The Documentary Academy VOD is an innovative, online project that allows access to documentaries and specially prepared educational programs without restrictions based on location, in order to respond to the needs of three audiences across Poland:

• Secondary Schools (in the future also Elementary Schools)
• Students,
• Educators, teachers and parents.

For each of these groups we have prepared separate educational programs corresponding to issues related to their development and education stage. The project was developed based on public consultation with a focus group of more than 350 teachers within the proposed topics, documentary formats and educational materials.

From the festival's offerings, for the Documentary Academy program we have selected films that expand knowledge and experience on a variety of topics that are not included in the core curriculum of school and academic subjects, including such topics as:

• civil society,
• equality before the law,
• climate change,
• activism,
• psychology and psychological development and safety,
• history,
• media,
• new technologies,
• personal and legal freedom of an individual - including the rights of minorities and women,
• interpersonal relationships in a changing world, empathy.

The films have been divided into thematic series, and have been provided with special tags suggesting school subjects in which the films and lessons can be used. In the educational materials for the films you can find: lesson scenarios, educational videos, English language exercises. Numerous additional materials allow you to deepen the film stories and create even more interactive content for all those who are curious about the world. 

We invite schools, universities, teachers and educators who want to learn about new and innovative methods of education to contact us.