About

What is AGE-C?

AGE-C: Ageing and Gender in European Cinema is a research initiative funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.
It brings together scholars from the following institutions:

  • Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
    Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger, Dr. Asja Makarević, Olena Gepper

  • UniversitĂ© Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, France
    Prof. Raphaëlle Moine, Dr. Adrien Valgalier, Dr. Alexandre Robert Moussa

  • UniversitĂ  degli Studi di Udine, Italy
    Prof. Dr. Francesco Pitassio, Dr. Gloria Dagnino

  • BabeČ™-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania
    Dr. Andrea-Adriana Virginás, Boglárka Angéla Farkas

  • King’s College London, United Kingdom
    Dr. Belén Vidal, Dr. Luis Freijo

Together, they explore how contemporary European cinema represents old age — particularly in relation to gender.

The AGE-C webtool is part of this initiative. It is designed to help researchers, students, film industry practitioners, policy makers, and cultural institutions interact with and analyze a curated dataset of European films that portray ageing on screen and behind the scenes.

Learn more on the AGE-C Project Website.

What the Dataset Contains

The AGE-C dataset includes over 6,000 films released between 2014 and 2023 across nine European countries. It focuses on how ageing and gender are represented in contemporary European cinema and includes detailed information about characters, cast and crew, production context, and award recognition.

The dataset includes films released in the following nine European countries:

  • Croatia
  • France
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Italy
  • Romania
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • United Kingdom

In Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and Slovenia, the focus is on characters and documentary subjects aged 50 and above.
In France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, the threshold is 55 and above.

The dataset captures:

  • Fiction, documentary, and animation films
  • Leading and supporting characters and documentary subjects aged 50 and above
  • Detailed metadata on actors, directors, and documentary subjects
  • Film-level information on production countries, release types, and genres
  • Recognition through national and European film awards
  • Over 170 thematic tags reflecting concepts from gerontology, gender studies, and narrative theory
  • Character-specific attributes like age group, gender, sexuality, ethnic origin, class, profession, and ability

This makes it possible to examine trends in how ageing is represented across different countries, genres, and institutional contexts.

Where to Learn More

For full definitions of filters and tags, and details on how the dataset was created, visit the Glossary.

You can also download the full dataset for further analysis via the MediaRep repository.

A methodological overview and academic publications resulting from the AGE-C project will be made available on the AGE-C Project Website.

Get in Touch

We welcome feedback, collaboration ideas, and questions.

Contact the AGE-C team at gepper@tfm.uni-frankfurt.de