The following article describes the process of a documentary filmmaking programme at a secondary school in Chile, which encourages students to engage with a sense of place and intangible cultural heritage. Run by Gaticine -- Centro de desarrollo social del cine (Centre for the Social Development of Cinema) in partnership with A Bao A Qu, a non-profit organization based in Barcelona, the programme assists students in discovering and analysing documentary films from different times and cultures over the course of a year, while performing practical filmmaking inside and outside the school. At the end, a short film project is developed that is premiered in a local cinema. This essay provides a brief overview of the principles and methodology of the Cinema en curs programme, before offering a socio-educational consideration of the school in which it was developed and, finally, an analysis of the project's delivery.