Minimum goal has been achieved,but further contributions are fundamental to ensure even more quality to the final result!

Is it possible to have a different school to one made of grey classrooms, grades on the register, and notions learnt by heart, like most of us have known? And is it possible to imagine a different society without reconsidering the model of education which is at its base?

Three years ago, the search for an answer to these questions took me to the the green hills of Penedès, in Catalonia, to knock on the door of El Roure, the Oak.

Behind that door, a new, unimaginable world opened up to me, and immediately I felt a strong desire to get to know it and recount it.

As such, I found myself immersed in the daily life of a school very different to conventional ones, based on free education or active pedagogy, but above all a reality able to exceed any definition one may try to give it, and at the same time, capable of overturning many of the convictions which we carry inside us regard the education. A school where there are no desks to sit down at and behave, nor registers on which to write notes and grades. The space accomodating the children is structured in an open manner, without barriers between the classrooms, and allows any kind of activity, from cognitive to manual to psychomotor. The days do not follow a predefined rhythm or schedule, but rather that what Paco, one of the teachers, loves to call ”the dance of reality”.

The further I went on with my work and the discovery of such a unique world, the more I realised that I would have never been able to recount it in an extemporaneous way; and that only coming back year after year, following a path parallel to the growth of the children and my own, I would have had a better chance to do so.

And so, in the space of three years, I came back many more times to walk the path that leads to the Oak, and every time more than finding answers, I found new questions to ask myself and others. But most of all I found my place in a community which while redrawing the way of conceiving education finds itself in involved in broader itinerary which leads to a reconsideration and a rediscovery of the very meaning of life and of being on earth.

Now that I feel at home here , I would like to invite you to discover it from close-up.

What will your contribution do?

The filming terminated last summer and the project is only missing the last piece. After having fully sustained the project on my own back, along with the costs in these past three years, I would need a donation that allows me to dedicate my time fully to the editing of the documentary and to take on all the other costs included in post-production and translations.

Why support this project?

The Oak was born out of initiative of the current coordinator and a group of families who wanted to offer their children a different form of education. But it was the donation received by a mysterious patron which allowed for the acquisition of the land on which the school rose. I would like it if today, also this documentary would be able to reach completion thanks to the contributions of those who believe in the importance of supporting projects born outside of the fences imposed by the dominating ideology and the logic of the market! 

Who am I?

My name is Antonio Laforgia and after a degree in Sociology and different experiences in the world of cooperation and of journalism, in 2011 I decided to take on the fascinating and challenging road of documentary filmmaking.

Mi first work “Inshallah, the journey of Mohamed Ali” is a four-handed recounting of the journey made with a Tunisian migrant searching for his freedom.

My following work, Pomodoro Nero (Black Tomato) is the results of a month spent living in the Ghetto of Rignano, a shantitown of african workers in the countryside of Foggia, Puglia.

Following this I completed Piccole Scelte (Small Choices), the portrait of a 28 year old girl who works in a horse stable and lives in close contact with nature; La vita è tutta rose (Life is all rosey), documentary and music therapy in a center for those suffering of Alzheimers and Botteghe Didattiche (Educational Workshops), story of the encounter between old artisan masters and school-aged youths.

About the rewards

All the supporters of the project will have their name in the credits.

Former works of the author you could choose a DVD from are the ones indicated in the former section

National premiere will be held in sant Joan de Mediona (Barcelona)

Expected Calendar

• December and January: postproduction and subtitles

• End of January: production of DVD and delivery of rewards

• February: official premiere will be held at Sant Joan de Mediona, the nearest village to the school