Chap Freeman

As the '06-'08 Distinguished Teacher, I used my release time to take a more prominent role in CILECT, (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) the world association of film and television schools.  Columbia has been a member of that group for over a decade, and I've been attending their biennial congresses since we were granted membership.

The fellowship gave me the time to run for and get elected as Regional Representative to CILECT's Executive Council from North America.  The North American sub-group, CNA (CILECT North America) includes the two-dozen U.S. and Canadian schools who are members.  In that capacity, I've been helping plan our next World Congress, which will be held at the Beijing Film Academy in early November of this year.

Despite the fact that CILECT is 53 years old, and that it has 137 members in 56 countries, I find that a lot of my American colleagues are unaware of what it is and what it aims to do.  Simply put, that is to "teach the teachers" of film, television, and other media through the exchange of ideas, and to foster the growth of media education in developing parts of the world.

At the 2008 Faculty Retreat, I'll be giving a brief presentation on what CILECT is and what it does, including some forms of academic education and media exchange that I think will be interesting for a lot of our faculty.