The Kölner Filmhaus is a center for the independent film scene and is a meeting place for international film culture, media-education and independent filmmaking. Under a municipal roof you'll find a multitude of services on offer – a cinema showcasing an international programme and film festivals, an equipment rental facility, a restaurant and a training programme. The training programme, which is facilitated by the Filmhaus Köln gGmbH, comprises workshops and further education courses for film enthusiasts, filmmakers and everyone who wants to become one. We especially aim to educate young creatives, who are still searching for their place in the creative world. The instructions are given by working professionals - often award-winning filmmakers from Germany and abroad who share their knowledge and experience, provide the training programme with immediate and practical content and ensure cultural diversity. Participants come from various european countries to attend and together instructors and participants constitute a local to international network of cinema culture. Together we establish the training as a systemically important programme of further education for film and television professionals. The Filmhaus Köln gGmbH is certified as a provider of professional further training according to the AZAV and a recognised continuing education provider in North Rhine-Westphalia. We are in a non-commercial alliance with the Münchner Filmwerkstatt e.V. and the Filmhaus Babelsberg gGmbH, both of which provide comparable offers at their location. Our training enables young people to express their personality and creativity via film and video, opens up a channel for them to become multipliers and to explore and question their social reality, whose inherent European dimension becomes more and more important due to the ongoing process of integration. In this respect lies the commitment of the Filmhaus Köln to the EVS as a hosting organisation. With help from the EVS we can offer young people from other countries the possibility to explore cinema culture, media education and filmmaking in practice, and to penetrate all areas of film- and media-education, gathering experiences regarding work, learning and life and to strengthen their own cultural awareness and expression. Acting on one's own authority, contributing and implementing new ideas and experiencing the effects and all of this against a creative backdrop – Filmhaus Köln gGmbH is a place where the vision of europe can develop at a grass root level. Our project proposals to the European Voluntary Service in the area of film- and media-education aim to contribute to the intercultural exchange between young europeans, to strengthen the european awareness, cultural diversity, tolerance and understanding and to offer young people the opportunity to try things out for themselves and in this way to orient themselves personally and professionally. The Filmhaus Köln gGmbH offers the chance to be, for twelve months, a part of an intercultural team currently comprised of four european volunteers from different countries, freelancers, full-time and volunteer staff, to observe and support the workings of our non-commercial training programme and become acquainted with organisation, preparation and follow-up of workshops, as well as the seminar contents, thus gaining an overview of the European film landscape and help in their vocational orientation process. Additionally we encourage the volunteers to apply their learning towards by developing their own personal project: an international short film festival, an european networking event, designing and implementing their own workshop; writing a script; supporting a film workshop for kids and teens; applying themselves in social media and public relations; organizing a film screening regarding their native country and many other options. We offer various possibilities and supportive coaching, so that every volunteer can find a suitable trial project. We allow for a wide distribution of project outcomes by envolving our networks, the volunteers themselves and our partner organisations. We match each volunteer with a mentor as personal contact person during the stay, as provided for in the programme, additionally we provide an instructor for all activities and questions regarding vocational orientation. Nonetheless all colleagues provide support and guidance for the volunteer. Guided practical work, joint leisure time, support in all of lives vital matters, lots of space for reflection and mutual exchange are core elements of the volunteer experience. Our offer is without limitation open to every young person, who wants to be involved in voluntary activity and who is interested in film and media education. We are looking forward to many intercultural young stimuli for our work and are happy to be an ambassador in the film scene for the European spirit and the growing together of Europe in respect to the EVS Charta.