In frame of the Winter School “Images of Age and Ageing“, an extended program took place for students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Heidelberg University (HU) from 10th-24th October at the Institute of Gerontology in Heidelberg. Five PhD-students from JNU (Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies and Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences) and nine MA-students from HU (Institute of Gerontology, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies) participated. Aim of this program was to foster knowledge and research exchange  (eg. “Life-long learning in Germany“) between students of both Universities.
The program started with an excursion to the opening of the 8th European Filmfestival for Generations at the film theater Cinemaxx in Mannheim. After attending a panel discussion on the topic “The future of care“, students saw the opening film “Leanders last journey“ (2017) followed by a discussion with the regisseur Nick Baker-Monteys. 
From 13th to 18th October students visited further film screenings at different locations in and around Heidelberg. Students went in German-Indian teams of 2-3 persons and worked on group assigments dealing with topics as eg. the film’s content, description of the location and the film’s application in India. Students also conducted interviews with elderly people, film experts and local partners working in the field of health promotion for older people, which attended the film screenings. 
At Thursday, 19th October, students presented in groups the results of their field research at the Institute of Gerontology. Results amongst others were that the documentary as well as fiction films being screened  portrayed positive images of older people dealing with age-relevant themes such as eg. housing, dementia, ageing and generativity, partnership and sexuality, death, and images of ageing. Majority of the audience were elderly persons and films were screened at various settings such as eg. a senior living facility (Heidelberg-Emmertsgrund), movie theater (Weinheim), a parish house (Leimen) and town-hall (Speyer, Lautertal). 
The presentations were followed by a discussion and commented by Dr. Michael Doh (Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University), Dr. Martin Gieselmann (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University), Dr. Pradeep Chakkarath (Chair of Social Theory and Social Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum) and Prof. Dr. Minati Panda (Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, JNU). In the evening, the Indian film „Astu-So be it“ on dementia was screened and discussed in presence of the psychiatrist and central character Dr. Mohan Agashe  at the South Asia Institute. At Tuesday, 24th October, the extended student program closed with a lecture by Prof. Dr. Andreas Kruse on the topic “Images of Age and Ageing“ at the Institute of Gerontology.

Here you can download the program of the event (Pdf).