Netxus: when the documentary enters the classroom to transform it

In the era of the image, visual learning also has a specific weight in education, and it is precisely this educational potential of the moving image that turns Nextus into an educational tool. The digital platform, promoted by filmmaker and founder of DocsBarcelona, Joan Gonzalez, fosters critical thinking in young people and has received the award in the Education category of the FAR Awards from the newspaper ARA.

Through activities and resources based on documentary clips, Nextus is a tool for educational centers everywhere. Formed by a multidisciplinary pedagogical team, the platform facilitates the educational use of documentaries by proposing activities that foster debate, creativity, and the critical thinking of students.

Currently, Nextus has more than 100 documentaries, 1,400 clips, and nearly 300 activities, and works with more than 1,000 schools and 16,000 registered teachers. With more than 2,000 proposals designed to be worked on in the classroom and classified by subjects, themes, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Nextus universe transcends our borders. More than 250,000 students from all over the world are already learning through the potential of documentaries.

A new learning model

Clips, small audiovisual capsules, explain different topics quickly and simply and help teachers focus the debate in the classroom. Racism, adolescence, creativity, critical thinking, war, social networks, artificial intelligence, arts, human relations and a whole series of other topics can be easily explored through a search engine. These are competency-based and transversal resources designed to turn major current topics into subjects of debate and reflection.

It is also about studying history, geography, physics, mathematics, arts, social sciences and other subjects through documentary film, with audiovisual resources grouped according to curricular criteria. The collections and documentaries offered by Nextus form an educational platform with pedagogical service that puts audiovisual content at the service of learning. The proposal is to offer quality materials as new ways of learning, more active and stimulating, that facilitate the training of boys and girls. Nextus thus contributes to transforming the learning model, fostering new ways of learning and critical spirit.

Quality education, gender equality, reduction of inequalities and climate action are some of the SDGs that guide Nextus's commitment to the 2030 Agenda. The platform puts the power of the clip, the collections and the documentaries at the service of pedagogy to bring the great challenges of today's world into the classroom through a tool that young people know well: the moving image.

With more than 25 years of experience in the world of audiovisual production and the support of the educational community, Nextus is a rigorous and transformative tool. Its presence in several countries also gives it an international dimension. Nextus generates multilingual content and offers an accessible experience from an inclusive and respectful perspective.

From spectators to creators

For three years now, Nextus has been offering boys and girls between 8 and 18 years old the opportunity to get behind the camera to create their own documentaries. It is from this desire that the Student Film Festival was born, a festival of documentary short films created by students from schools and high schools, accompanied by professionals during the process, and which is part of the Docs4Education project. The proposal invites them to go from being spectators to becoming creators and to use audiovisual language as a tool for learning, reflection, and expression.

The goal is for young people to be able to tell stories about reality from their own perspective and discover the power of audiovisual narrative, beyond technical perfection. In the 2026 edition, the short films had to have a maximum duration of five minutes and be made by students within the school setting.

The festival was held on June 1, 2026, at the CaixaForum in Barcelona, where the selected works were screened. The meeting thus becomes the culmination of a creative process that begins in the classroom and a space to share experiences, generate synergies between centers, and, above all, give a voice to boys and girls through their own stories.