C More Offers Language Tools For New Arrivals

163,000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden in the autumn of 2015, prompting premium streaming service C More to launch Filmtegration, an initiative aimed at making it easier and more fun to learn the country’s language and culture.

Svenska för invandrare (Swedish For Immigrants) teachers have found it difficult to use films in course materials due to rights issues and costs, but C More is set to change that. They will make a selection of films available with subtitles in both Arabic and Swedish, and each will be accompanied by exercises and discussion points linked to selected clips.

As of September 13th, Filmtegration is available free of charge to SFI teachers for use in the classroom, and is a customised version of C More’s streaming service that will usually feature six Swedish film classics chosen by a board including Anna Serner (MD of the Film Institute), Jussi Koreila (Head of SFI Stockholm) and director Colin Nutley.

Filmtegration shares the same vision as Nyheter på lätt svenska (News In Easy Swedish), which airs weekdays on SVT2 with subtitles in Arabic and English, aimed at making Swedish society more understandable, thus fostering a sense of community and aiding prosperity.

CEO of C More, Manfred Aronsson, said: “We are not experts in integration or education, but we can work with educators to give Swedish film a more important role in helping new arrivals understand and become part of Swedish society.”