1The problematics of this work seeks to better understand how various iconic and audio-visual productions are conceived of by diverse audiences around the Mediterranean, in various educational contexts. In particular, we are concerned with image production models, image-based education and information devices that are based on cooperation between North and South. What are their aims? How do they work? And how are they received by their audiences?

2In this perspective, we have been open to study any mode of production and reception, any iconic and audio-visual support, in any type of media. The contributions in this collection attempt to describe, explain and evaluate the scope of various iconic or audio-visual forms in various contexts with intercultural, educational or informational purposes (school, university, film festival, print media, radio, television, webnews).

3The study of the various forms of audio-visual communication makes it possible to better understand how audiences view North-South relations by addressing five main themes: cooperation (role of associations and public institutions), trans-Mediterranean migrations, French as foreign language, religions and gender (construction of gendered identities).

4In order to study the representation of audiences and to identify the methods of education and audio-visual information likely to obtain results on the spectators, we gave preference to the methodologies of research which take into account the question of reception. While the analyses of the various iconic and audio-visual corpora certainly study the representation of the themes dealt with, they also seek to account for the effects of audio-visual mediation methods on audiences.

5The contributions in this collection will help better understand the disparities that underlie the relations between the north and the south of the Mediterranean as well as, and above all, the activities that attempt to reduce such differences. Besides, this research is focused on the economic, social and political study of the activities of organizations, mainly associations, which, through image, promote cooperation and cultural exchange in the Mediterranean.

6In the field of documentary film, Joël Danet sets out the cooperation process between two associations, Cinema and Memory of Béjaïa (Algeria) and Kaïna cinéma (France), in the production of the series entitled "Béjaïa Doc" (2008-2011) as well as the conditions of projection of these films at the Maison de l’image de Strasbourg, as part of sessions organized by Video Les Beaux Jours, an association integrated in the national network of the Cinémathèque documentaire.

7Also highlighting an associative activity, Guglielmo Scafirimuto describes the finalities and operating procedures of the audio-visual workshops run by the association Parcours in Paris, which aims to promote the integration of residents of the homes of migrant workers in Ile -de-France, through the production of films by the migrants themselves and their dissemination as part of a festival, where the various inhabitants of the neighbourhoods that host these homes are mixed.

8In the field of audio-visual information, Fayçal Izedaren, in collaboration with Larbi Megari, explains how the Conférence permanente de l’audiovisuel en Méditerranée (COPEAM), an association that maintains a permanent partnership with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), implements cooperation activities between Europe and the Arab world and promotes gender equality in the media.

9Benoît Verdier questions the communicational imagery implemented by the television series Ainsi soient-ils, broadcast in 2012-2015 by the Franco-German cultural channel Arte, on the theme of interreligious dialogue between Catholics, Jews and Muslims, and in what way the last season is symptomatic of the societal problems peculiar to France today.

10At the end of the collection, we wanted to integrate a testimonial, a research note as well as a book review that shed light on the theme. Talking about their experience in Didactics of French as a Foreign Language (FLE), Amira Rahal and Lakhdar Karchi show that a distrust of the French language persists among Algerian students and describe how they attempt to change this representation by the broadcast of a film, in this case The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1957), as part of a FLE course.

11In a current research note, Louis Basco explains a research project bringing together several universities located around the Mediterranean, in France, Greece and Tunisia precisely. This program aims to understand how the identities of students in these countries are constructed by observing the representation they make of themselves (of their gender, particularly) through the creation of a coat of arms representing their personality.

12Finally, Hanane Zatout gives us the review of a very useful book, Regarder les films en Afriques (Claude Forest, Claude Caillé Patricia, ed., 2017, Lille, Presses Universitaires du Septentrions), insofar as it makes an assessment of cinematographic exploitation in Africa and addresses issues related to the reception of films in the Mediterranean.