Is it time to move beyond the old pedagogical framework?

Anybody over a certain age will conjure the same image with the phrase ‘educational film’ - death by talking head + PowerPoint.

In this episode Matt was joined by Tiia Grøn, Senior Counselor and Video Producer, Nathalie Blomstereng, Senior Advisor and Learning Designer and Terje Bergli, Senior Tech Advisor, all joining him from UiT The Arctic University of Norway where the Tromsø Educational Film Festival was created.

They talk about how the new generation of educators are redefining the framework through educator/filmmaker partnerships and how the diversity of formats, inspirational subject matter and international reach showcased at the festival illustrates that shift.

Learning points from the episode include:

• 00:00 – 02:24 Intro
• 02:24 – 05:26 What is T.R.E.F.F and how did it begin
• 05:26 – 06:54 The challenges of bringing film and learning together
• 06:54 – 11:59 What lessons should educators take away
• 11:59 – 15:22 What can filmmakers do to stand out at festivals
• 15:22 – 17:39 What's next for T.R.E.F.F
• 17:39 – 21:35 The T.R.E.F.F submission process
• 21:35 – 27:22 Inspirations from this year's festival
• 27:22 – 28:40 How to find out more about T.R.E.F.F
• 28:40 – 31:26 Final takes
• 31:26 – 32:22 Outro

Important links and mentions:

• Submit your film in early 2027: Tromsø Educational Film Festival - FilmFreeway
• Keep up to date with this year’s results and next year’s submission: https://result.uit.no/treff/
• Follow T.R.E.F.F on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tromso.educational.film.festival
• Follow T.R.E.F.F on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tr.e.f.f/
• Take a look at the University: UiT The Arctic University of Norway | UiT

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, wherever you are and wherever you're watching from. My

name is Matt Pearce, host of the Visual Lounge. And today we're going to be

talking about trep. And if you haven't heard of Tref, you should,

because it's an educational film fest based in Troms, Norway.

And I have a great opportunity to go and be part of the conference to

hear and watch these great films and learn from other educators

about film. So we're going to be talking to some of the organizers today about

the conference, about things that we can learn from watching

films and ideas that come from opportunities of

gathering. And so let's go ahead and jump in today and introduce our

guests. So welcome everybody. We've got a full house today.

We're going to have just you introduce yourselves real quickly. Tia, would

you be willing to go first?

My name is Tia Kren and I work at

the at UiT, the Arctic University of

Norway, as a senior counselor and video

producer. And I make

video videos and films and other multimedia for

teaching purposes here at the university.

Fantastic. All right, Natalie, would you go next? And if I

say your names wrong, I'm trying really hard.

No worries. It's not wrong to say Natalie like that.

My name is Natalia Blomstrang.

I'm a senior advisor at the research

here at the university, the uit, the

Arctic University of Norway. And I also

work as a learning designer here

where I make multimedia for

educational purposes, amongst

other things. Yeah, fantastic. Well,

thank you. And Terje?

Yeah. My name is Tarje Vargli. I'm also a colleague

of Natalia and Tia. I work as an

ed tech advisor here at the university.

I've been here for 17 years,

I think, so I work with producing

educational content for our students.

Fantastic. So I'm so thrilled to have each of you here

to talk about Tref. So maybe if one of

you would be willing to tell us what is tref?

What's the idea behind it? Why is there a film fest,

Educational film festival in Northern Norway,

above the Arctic Circle, which seems not like a place of

high cinema necessarily. So it's kind of an interesting. Not

only location, but interesting idea.

Well, I can start.

Some years ago, we were looking for a

festival because we work with the educational film and we

felt that there was not giving

credit for the work that we do and

that the faculty staff does

to create and promote educational films. So

we started looking for festivals or places that. Where we

could. That we could find, that we could show off what we are,

what we are making. But we Couldn't find any

festivals. There was one in Finland that we visited and

there was one in

Iran. I think that was one of the most.

One of the festivals that had been going on for, for quite a while,

but Iran is probably not the place to

go to right now. So we started

working four years ago with,

with our own idea of what a film festival

should be. So in 2024, we,

we establish or we

held the first Tref Film

Festival. Yeah.

Oh, go ahead, please. Yeah, yeah, I was,

I thought I could just tell what

TREF is and Trump's Education

Film Festival. And it's a

place where we want to connect filmmakers and

educators and to promote film

as a teaching tool to see how you

can use film in the pedagogical way. So

it's both the film festival where we watch educational

films, but also a conference where we

discuss the potential that the

films have or learning

and teaching. Yeah. I will say

one of the things that really impressed me is that.

And obviously if you're going to a film festival, you expect kind of really

high quality. But the amazing. The thing was I was just blown away by what

educators were creating. It's pretty fantastic.

So tell us a little bit, like, because it can seem like, I

think that there's film that, that is, you

know, really well produced. It's very cinematic, it's

beautiful. And then there's education. We. And we see a lot of it. I see

a lot of education films that are, you know, it's like a lecture style or

it's not necessarily using film techniques. So

what are some of the challenges of finding these pedagogical

kind of pieces that actually bring

together both film and kind of learning? Is

that challenging? Is there lots of it out there, do you think?

Yeah, I believe so. I believe that

there exists a lot of films that are

educational films, but I think that many people

believe that educational films is like this talking

head with a PowerPoint behind. But actually

educational films is much more than only that. It's

like co creation between the educator and the

filmmaker where we make films for a

pedagogical framework. So the film

is supposed to exist within our framework.

Yeah. So it's a small field

yet, but still an important field

in education. Well,

so let me ask this as. As you think about that, because it is small

and it does seem like there's lessons to be learned. What is

something that. Now you've done two of these conference film

festivals, you've watched probably. Well,

you probably all had to watch all the selections. So you've probably watched hundreds of

films, but we watched 25 this year during the conference.

What. What's a lesson you wish

educators would take away from

film that they could apply more readily? Because I know working with the

educators, I do sometimes, again, it's just the talking head. Is there a

lesson you think to be learned that you wish all educators would

apply or many educators would apply?

One thing that we can mention is what

we often see is that

educators try to. Like Natalie says

about the talking head, they try to fit every

subject into one video, every lecture into one video. But

we often try to fragment

and get them to

create the video in smaller parts. And educational

film often requires some kind of activity

connected to it. So it's important to have something.

Whether you see the film first or whether you. Whether

you have the activity during the film or if you

have the activity after the film. It's very important to have some kind of

active measures taking place before, during, or after the

screening so that you can anchor the learning objective

in some way. So that's kind of important.

We feel. Absolutely.

And also we said that

the educators that come to the festival that they will be

inspired and to see. For instance,

I talked to some participants

and in advance they had been thinking like,

oh, I don't know how interesting the films will

be because they are not about my professional field.

But when they attended the festival and saw those

films, they were really surprised because they were actually interesting

for them in the sense that they got new ideas

of how to. How. What kind of

forms you can use. For instance, when you

make educational films, different

types of films and different types of

tools that in the

productions, like, we wish that the educators

see that film is a

different kind of tool than lecture or

other learning resources and that they actually

utilize those possibilities

that that form of

communication gives.

So that's been nice to hear that it's

because it's not the content of the film that is important

in this setting, but more the

content of the film that is important, but the way that

it's made to enhance

learning. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I noticed that because there was a wide variety of

topics and discussions that happened around each of the

films. And I'll be honest, I think I was part of that.

Like, oh, gosh, am I going to be interested in. In what's

being this topic or is going to be shown? And it was so

amazing to hear from all these different disciplines too, like

that. And I think that's maybe another takeaway is that the. It felt like

this film wasn't just for one

maybe area or discipline. It, it really did cover

so many different topics and it was really amazing to see

what, what these filmmakers were doing, the styles and approaches,

you know, everything from things for, for children to,

you know, we call them grade schoolers, middle schoolers in the, in the

U.S. you know, those kind of middle ages of school and then even

for college students and frankly many adults could

benefit from some of the topics that were covered. So I just so

fascinating. So I appreciate that your approach

that, you know, film, it's great to watch and look at. Oh, it's a

good topic, but it's also about how did they

approach that topic, which I think is an important lesson.

So as you're, as you're working through

festivals and you're looking, you all, like I said, watch

all the films before it goes to the jury, you're kind of

selecting and I don't want you to give away any

secrets or anything that you shouldn't say. You don't want to tip the scales to

people doing things to get into the festival

or whatever. But are there things that particularly

that filmmakers and these educators are doing

that catch your eye that say, oh, that, that's

something we're looking for in the films that we're going, we

want to screen and show. Is there an element about them that

you know, stands out? Or, or is it maybe it's always different

depending, depending on the film?

Yeah, I can say that

of course we look for some diversity. We want to show

that educational films can

be a lot of different things. It don't have to only

be a film, standalone film, documentary. It

can be a case that is used for

reflection. It can also be a project with

VR or 360

videos. So we want to show the

diversity of films also as well as

some high end films. But also we want to show that

educators can make films themselves also. So

therefore we try to implement some more low budget

films that educators also can

make themselves. So they can see that it's not that difficult. I don't have to

be a Hollywood filmmaker to make films kind of.

Yeah. And we

also experienced that at the festival that

some, some of the teachers or who

teach at the university that they came to us and told that

they had got really inspired

by the films that they have been seeing because they had maybe

previously also thought about making films

for the teaching and for, about their research.

But now they were kind of

thinking to throw those ideas out and they were full

of new ideas. And that's really nice for

us to hear because that's one of our goals to

inspire the educators to see that

film can be used in so many different ways.

Yeah, I, I will say I was impressed also just some of

the diversity. I know there was. We screened a film from the

Norwegian Police Department that was, I mean, probably

couldn't have been super high budget, but I, it just was memorable because it was.

They used humor very effectively. But it was

a great. To me that was a great example of how a film

didn't have to be super high budget. But it was also amazing on the other

end to see what some of these truly moving,

you know, heart wrenching pieces that also were educating about,

you know, what was happening in the world. So I'm glad that educators are getting

inspired. So for you all,

what's next for Tref? Because Tref is obviously it's a.

Well, maybe not obviously. So every year. It's not every year, it's every two

years. So next one is 2028. What's the

hope for the next festival? Any dreams,

goals, aspirations?

Well, we have had

an evaluation of this year's festival and

the feedback has been very positive.

So we are extremely glad that people that came had

benefited from the, from being there. And we

are, we are keen to go on in

2028 to, to try to recruit

even more people from. We are an international

film festival, but Scandinavia and, and we also

have. Maybe Tion or Natalia can correct

me. We have had contributions for I think.

How many countries were there?

Do you remember when it's seven. Well, in, in the

submissions we had like films from

20 over 20 different countries. And

in the program. I, I don't remember, but

it was. So we tried to.

Yeah, we tried to make it so. So like we can

get different cultures and different inputs on

what educational film is throughout the world.

And not just. Not in Norway but in Scandinavia and in

Europe and in Africa.

We had last year very

excellent films from Africa as well. So we try

to make it a worldwide

contribution for, for educational film

and also. Yeah, that's, that's,

that's one of our focuses to, to

expand. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that

would be wonderful. So if anyone's listening to this and they're saying that

sounds interesting, obviously it's not time to submit yet. Got some time to

keep working on the films. What, what does that process look like? Because I'm,

I'm curious for. So, you know, my guess is there's people out there

who are working on stuff and maybe they're not even. They're thinking about their educators.

They're Thinking about the process, or maybe they're an educator, they're like trying to create

something. What does that process look like for just

submission, just out of curiosity, to have someone thinking

about, like, hey, do I have something that I could

submit to to a festival like Tref?

Yeah. So we. We

will open the submissions, I think

2027, early in 2027. And we use

Film Freeway for. As a platform for the

submissions, so anybody can go there and create

the profile and submit their projects to us. And

what they should think about is

if they can describe how

they think this film can promote learning and if they

even have the project is a part of some kind

of teaching program, or if they have thoughts

about the pedagogical use of that film,

then they can be sure that it's the right place, that

Ref is the right place. And

yeah, we hope as many as possible want to

send their films to us. Just.

And the more films for you all to watch.

We love to watch film and we love to get inspired by

films that we see. And it's not always about

the technical part of the film because we value

the film in different categories. And

it's always a great mix between

pedagogical

focus and also the context around the film,

but also the film itself that it's a good film,

but also it doesn't have to be the technical

best film, but if it's serves a

purpose in an educational context,

it's definitely a film to

submit to us. Yeah. I just also

wanted to say that we also

want films that show innovative ways of

using educational films in

a teaching setting. So we welcome

all kinds of films and projects that

are trying out how to use educational films.

Yeah, I'll mention that on a previous episode, I

did interview Time Daewoo, who was at the film

festival, and he's a YouTube creator. And I think that's the

nice contrast, right, is you've got people who are educators, professors

working in university. You've got like the Norwegian Police

Academy, which is an educational institution, but then you had

this youtuber who was there to create

educational content. So I do think that's. It's nice to see the variety and hopefully

that continues. So maybe that's just my encouragement. Excuse

me. That's my encouragement to anyone listening that if you've got a film

that you think is educational, you've got some video that you think is unique

or takes a unique approach. Maybe this is an opportunity to showcase it.

Does that. Does that sound fair from the group? Is that. Is that

appropriate? Good.

Well, as we get close to wrapping up here, obviously as

you watch the films, there's always things to learn. I'd love to

hear from each of you, what's something from this year's festival

that you were inspired by or learned

that you either are going to apply, hope to apply or

try? Is there something that you took away from this year's festival? Now

granted, I understand you're also all very busy

during the festival and you weren't maybe locked in at watching.

You were doing all the behind the scenes things. But I know you, you've seen

those films. So was there something from this year that you took away

from, from the films that we watched that you would like to share?

For me there was.

I also like the keynotes and this year

was an excellent keynote or two excellent

keynote speaking. So the keynotes for me are

essential for the film festival

in addition to the films, of course. So we have a couple of keynotes

every year. It's a nice mix, right, because you got

films and you've got some educational content to mix in there.

For me, I think it was

cool that we had several different

filmmakers that also was educators.

So I really want that

we want for us to continue

with giving them also an

arena to show their work kind of.

I actually there was one, there was a film this

year about ethics and that has stuck with me. In

fact I went out and found because it's on one of the

Norwegian website platforms because

Norway has these amazing educational resources available.

And I watched other videos from that creator because I think

he did the series that was about the ethics question

about abortion and then he did one about ethics, like how to disagree

and have conversations. And like I actually sought that

out. That's how impressive I thought that that feature was that

at having this really great dialogue. So I think that's one thing that

for me is a couple things. Norway has an amazing educational system

that is supportive of film, which is

amazing. But two, these creators are doing

stuff that is really impactful. Like I saw

so many videos that I'm like, like really impacted by.

Like I've thought about, you know, we're. We're a month past over a

month away and I still think I'm thinking about what I saw

and what I felt and the impact that has. So I'm just going to

say for me that was. That's incredible to have that kind of impact

as a, as a creator, to have someone still thinking about your

work even well after the time maybe they had

to. And I'm not required to Take that professor's class. But

if I was a student, that's what I would want.

That would be a fan. That was a fantastic piece for me, at least.

And there's so many educators out there making

exceptional educational films. That

deserves a broader audience or at least a

recognition for. For making those films

for the students, because they're a very good educational.

They are. They deserve to get a

broader audience. So it's nice for you to

acknowledge that or to see that, and it's

nice for us to hear that you went back and

saw more of. Of this

creator's film.

And also, I also. When looking back

at the festival, what hits me also is that it's

allowed to have fun with education

films is a way of expressing education in a

different way and make education fun in a different

way. So a lot of the filmmakers and

educators at TREF 2026

just had fun with the education, and I think

that also inspires

for students to learn.

Yeah, that's true. And I also was

surprised by some of the films, like

how they used interactivity in a way that I haven't seen

before, because we talk about that the films should

be a part of a context

with the other learning resources or learning activities.

But there was, for example, one

film that was really. Did it really

well integrated in the film, the interactivity. So the

learning activity was done while

you watch the film. And that was quite

inspiring. Yeah, the learning.

It's interesting because learning from a kind of. I think. I

think the other day you even said this earlier. Learning. Learning doesn't happen in the

film. It happens in your head. It happens, you know,

during and after the, The. The viewing of these things.

And so I, I love that point. Well, thank you all

for taking time to be with me here on the podcast

to talk to me about Tref. And, you know, it was really a

highlight of experience for me to be. Be able to be part of that

and to. To view it. And I hope our list, my listeners, those

folks out there, will consider this as something that they should put on their bucket

list to do for whether it's a

2028 or a future one, because it really is

a fantastic experience if you're serious about learning and about

video and film. So as we wrap up,

if people want to learn more about Tref about any of

you, how do you want to do this? One of you want to be a

spokesperson here and talk about how people can learn more. If

you want to learn more about educational

films and TRAFF and what we do, you can

Visit our webpage. We have also an

Instagram and we have a Facebook where you can reach us and

we're very active. So if you send us a dm

we can, we will answer you. So yeah,

feel free to take to contact us. Yeah

and we will make sure links are in the con the descriptions below so people

can easily. What's your final take?

I don't know, maybe for the

we working with sometimes old

faculty members and stuff or staff

learning how to do video. But what we see now is

there's a new generation arriving from

that where video is

practically their primary medium of communication.

So it's important that they treat video as a functional

cog in

a pedagogical wheel and not just another swipe

in the doom scrolling. But I think the generations that's

coming, they are aware of this and we see a shift now

where the

videos are being treat it

as fragment in

what I talked about before. Fragment of educational.

Educational context. So that's my input

now. I'm just really happy

and thankful for the opportunity

to create this festival

to make it happen and everyone who came

and all the people that we have met. And

I'm really happy about that because we work

with this every day. But it's not a lot of

networking possibilities. So

it's been really nice to see this year that

same people came back and we also got new friends and

I'm looking forward to the next time

already. Yeah. My final

take is that it's allowed

to have fun with education and I think that is

something that we are doing. We have fun with films and education

and it's a really fun crew that meet up at ref

and learn from each other and

share experiences and get inspired

from educational films. So

educators shouldn't be afraid to try to use

films and be inspired by

others that is doing the same and just have fun

with it. It's not scary to make

movies. You can't do anything wrong.

I love it. Well, thank you each for joining me in the Visual

Lounge. Appreciate you guys so much.

Thank you. Thank you, Matt. All right everybody, as we wrap

up here, just again a shout out to the crew at Tref and all the

great things that they're doing over there. And I, I, I seriously, if it's not

on your list of things to do, consider it because it's a

fantastic experience, one that I will treasure and looking forward to going

back for sure. So with that said, one of the goals of the Visual Lounge,

of course is we want you to get better. We want, we want you to

think about using film and video as for an educational purposes. We want you

to get better at your skill sets. We want you to get better at thinking

about learning and pedagogy and all those types of things that make you more

effective at helping to educate and teach, train and do all

that good work. And with that said, we know you got to keep working at

it, and we hope you take a little time to level up every single

day. Thanks, everybody.