The intentional glance in watching films

This work explores the pedagogical potential of the cinematographic image within educational contexts, emphasizing its intrinsic narrative and cognitive value. Drawing on the Aristotelian concept of poietès as a creative process of knowledge-making, the study proposes film as both a medium and metaphor for cognitive inquiry. Central to the investigation is the phenomenological dimension of vision—both from the perspective of the filmmaker and the viewer—traced through thinkers such as Heidegger, Husserl, Varela, Benjamin, Merleau-Ponty, Bergson, and Arnheim, and its impact on cognitive theory as articulated by scholars like Plantinga, Bordwell, and Carroll. The research examines how cinema activates processes of attention, selection, memory, and re-composition, mirroring mechanisms such as montage, découpage, and editing, with particular reference to the theories of Eisenstein and Vertov. The core inquiry driving this study is the possibility of fostering cognitive and emotional educability through film. By making visible the inner workings of thought—concepts, feelings, and ideas—cinema becomes a tool for understanding and studying the mind, offering a path toward self-knowledge and expressive formation, rather than traditional modes of instruction.