ECFA Workshop Warehouse 2025: Shadow Casters at the International Film Education Fair in Bologna

In 2023, the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA), in collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna, organized the inaugural Workshop Warehouse – an international fair of educational film workshops.

Following the success of its first edition, Workshop Warehouse 2025 once again brings together film educators and practitioners from around the world, with a special focus on Europe. The event is organized by ECFA and Cineteca di Bologna in cooperation with the European network of children’s film festivals Screen the Future, and is co-funded by the European Union. This year’s edition will take place from June 27–29, 2025 in Bologna, as part of the internationally renowned film heritage festival Il Cinema Ritrovato.

ECFA Workshop Warehouse was created from the need for film educators across Europe to experience their colleagues’ workshops from the perspective of young participants, to exchange methods, knowledge, and inspiration, and to foster international cooperation. Although film education plays a key role in developing critical thinking, creativity, and media literacy in young people, it is often undervalued and marginalized. ECFA’s goal was to provide a platform to increase the visibility and quality of this important field. Participants in the event – educators, artists, and pedagogues – take on the active role of learners, participating in their peers’ workshops to gain firsthand insight, better understand the needs of young people, and strengthen their own practice.

It is worth noting that the foundations for this “workshop fair” were laid back in 2019 in Chemnitz, during the Schlingel Festival, when it was conceived by members of the ECFA network – among them the Croatian organization Shadow Casters. Although its realization was temporarily postponed due to the pandemic, the ECFA board reinitiated the project in 2023, and this year’s edition confirms its relevance and continuity.

Representing Croatia in this year’s program is the workshop “Direct Cinema Experience”, led in Bologna by Boris Bakal and Veno Mušinović. This workshop focuses on methods for creating immediate, “live” cinematic expression, and is aimed at educators working with children and youth. Its goal is to transfer knowledge and inspiration to teachers and leaders in the field of film and media literacy.

Boris Bakal is a multi-award-winning theatre and film director, actor, intermedia artist, curator, writer, educator, modernist architecture heritage activist, and public historian, born in Zagreb, SFRY (today Republic of Croatia/EU). Over his diverse career, he has created numerous projects, films, performances, lectures, installations, and multimedia works in more than 20 countries across Europe, as well as in Asia, Africa, South and North America, Australia, and New Zealand. His work is characterized by a deep exploration of space and time, architecture and context, and participatory elements in art and culture. Boris is the initiator and founder of Frooom!, a film literacy school for children and youth, continuously active since 2012 in over 12 cities in Croatia and abroad.

Veno Mušinović is a film director, dramaturge, and educator. He holds degrees in Philosophy and Dramaturgy from the University of Zagreb, and a BA in Film Directing from FAMU International in Prague. Since 2016, he has been one of the key educators at the FROOOM! film school and currently serves as Vice President of the Shadow Casters association. He has directed award-winning theatre productions and short films and has led over 30 workshops for children and youth, with resulting films winning 12 awards at 37 festivals worldwide. He collaborates with schools and festivals across Europe and has worked as a lecturer and mentor with organizations and platforms such as CinEd, KKZ, HFS, and others.