The CINAGE Project

CINAGE was a Grundtvig multilateral project - interlinked activities resulting in the production of a learning package aimed at empowering older people towards achieving active ageing. Phase one of the CINAGE Project was a structured critical literature review into active ageing and learning, followed by focus groups in partner countries viewing a range of European films, and commenting upon the films’ approaches to the six competencies identified by the European Commission as essential to active ageing. The third phase piloted a course with a group of senior volunteers exploring their approach to active ageing, their responses to the films selected by the focus groups and, finally, practical filmmaking. They attended screenwriting, directing and editing workshops, and wrote and produced their own scripts which were based on autobiographical stories and strategies for coping with ageing. The paper focuses on the third phase of the project and the Symposium that followed, highlighting the way senior volunteers engaged with the learning of filmmaking techniques and production, whilst also discussing a major theme that emerged out of the third phase - the benefits of inter-generational collaboration, teaching and learning. There will also be a screening of some of the films made by the volunteers.