More than 4.000 children attended the pre-festival events of ecokids this year.

They were enthused, they applauded, they asked, they learnt, they pondered and finally they created.
Because this student event is not only for children to watch and understand. It tries to open a dialogue with the local community. Today we can register the impact the festival had.
The Aegean University collected 1000 questionnaires where students answered and reflect their first impressions. Twenty three schools took place in that survey.

Indicatively we include some of the children�s� first responses to the questions.

Write your impression from the festival and the films:

�The films were very moving and especially the one with Baba the elephant. It made me get in Babas shoes, feel his problem, his concerns and sorrow. Along with Baba I was very happy when he met mommy Amma.�

 �The film �No Penguin�s Land� impressed me because it was very funny. Little children like to laugh. So do I.�
 

�What impressed me the most was that the main characters were children like us.�
 

Would you like to ask something to the creators of the films?�

�How long did it take you to shoot the film with the animals?� �How did you come up with the stories of the Pink Cloud and Baba? How did you manage to turn them into film?�

�I would like them to change the ending of the penguin because I wanted him to find the place he was looking for�
 

 �Is it difficult to make a film? Which are the stages until it is complete?�
 

A collage or the students� first impressions gives us a picture of the spontaneous commenting of ecokids.
 

We include the statement of the 1^st District of Primary Education of South Aegean, as it is expressed throught the School Advisor Mr Petros Spanos

ecokids �09 from the school�s point of view

The pre-festival screenings of the Ecofilms films that took place this year in the island of Rodos, and addresses to students and teachers, from the primary and secondary education, attained its goals. This results from both the quantitative (more than 4000 students participated) and the qualitative characteristics of these events.

The students, with their teachers� help, expressed themselves with creativity and originality through the various activities that were suggested in the, very thoroughly done, booklet of ecokids 2009.

This proves that the children�s rich concern and their sensitivity in environmental issues can be better expressed through activities that have meaning and are attractive. Cinema can be a wonderful educational means that can be systematically used in schools. Children by participating is such activities learn to love art, cinema and, at the same time, become more sensitive towards subjects that school tries to highlight as important through the educational process.

ecokids institution gives teachers a chance to expand their educational practices, by bringing in activities that enrich school life and give opportunities for though about the teacher�s role, can motivate the school community towards a different school function.

The activation of School Advisors and teacher in this years� event contributed, in a degree, in the better preparation of it. But this is not enough.

Schools can be included �organically� in this institution and integrate their activities and thoughts in this important event. That way schools will be able to essentially contribute in the preparation and the organizing of the events by adding their own point of view. Our cooperation with the festival�s artistic director has been, up to this point, extremely fruitful.

We would like the continuation and broadening of this collaboration and we propose this to the organizers of Ecofilms, who we congratulate and thank for their important contribution in the environment as well as in culture in Rodos, but also for their interest in an issue that holds great importance to us �cinema and school�.

The active participation of the educational world in ecokids explains the success of the dialogue and the creative participation of the children.

The local Media played a major part in informing and encouraging the children. We include an excerpt from the newspapers.

A valuable tool in the development of the dialogue with the local society and children in particular was the informational booklet of ecokids. (μπαίνει το εξώφυλλο)

Informational on the content of the films, educational on the analysis of each cinema and animation technique and creative in inviting the children to experiment and make short films, create a storyboard, create a composition of thoughts and reviews on ecokids.
The first works are already here. We believe we will be able to present some of the material in Ecofilms in June 2009 and 2010.

Let�s close this short mention to the valuable collaboration of the children with two of their opinions.

�The films were very nice and I would like to see them again�

�I wanna take part in making our world a better place�

The dialogue continues in ecokids blog:http://ecokidsrodos.blogspot.com/

Aegean University sent us a special report you can read it here