Documentary Educational Resources - Subject / Education & Schooling / All Films

Children Left Behind

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Children Left Behind
Buy Now: $320.00

Most high school students in the United States are required to pass a series of exams in order to earn a high school diploma. From coast to coast, more and more states are using these high stakes tests in an effort to reverse the supposed rising tide of mediocrity in our public schools and close the achievement gap between socioeconomic and racial groups. The film, Children Left Behind, is about the well-intended purposes that are driving this movement toward high stakes testing, and its unintended consequences. Children Left Behind, brings to the forefront the stories of students who are struggling with these tests. These compelling stories provide a springboard for the exploration of the educational, political and moral issues associated with these exams. The overwhelming majority of these students are the intended beneficiaries of education reform. They are students with disabilities, Latinos, African-Americans, English language learners, and students from economically impoverished communities. The social justice issues are palpable. Testing is a ubiquitous part of our global society. The documentary raises the important question of whether we are leaving too many children behind in our quest for higher test scores.

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Colours of the Alphabet

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Colours of the Alphabet
Buy Now: $320.00

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” — Nelson Mandela

Colours of the Alphabet tells the story of three children and their families over two school terms, and asks the question: does the future have to be in English? The official language in Zambia is English, but there are seven national languages and 72 ethnic languages spoken in the country. How does anyone communicate in this living Tower of Babel?

This lyrical and beautifully-filmed documentary is an eye-opening tale of the relationship between children and language from those first apprehensive days at school to the playground excitement at the end of term.

In a world where nearly 40% of the population lack access to education in their own language, Colours of the Alphabet is an affectionate and humorous portrayal of childhood innocence, misplaced hope, and the role of language as a means of binding a nation together - with multi-coloured subtitles to reflect the multilingual reality of the classroom.

"...delicately presents the complexities that Steward, M'barak and Elizabeth confront in their first two terms of primary education, in a classroom where the local language, Soli, has no place. Their experiences suggest that lack of access to education in one's own language, while a surprisingly common phenomenon on a global level, helps to create or entrench serious inequalities in our societies: at the very least, these students have to work much harder to achieve what other students learn through their first languages. This film is therefore an important one in drawing our attention to this very real and pervasive challenge"
- Laura Smith-Khan, University of Technology Sydney

"The Colours of the Alphabet is ...l a beautifully shot and heart warming piece of film from start to finish. Featuring multi-coloured subtitles that reflect the many dialects and languages in contemporary Zambia, this bright documentary about communication and education is a real eye opener."
- Ann Taylor, Across the Arts, Glasgow

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Glasgow Film Festival 2016 Glasgow (Official Selection), UK, 2016 (Home Premiere)
Watch Africa Wales Film Festival Cardiff, UK, 2016 (Wales Premiere)
AfrikaEye Film Festival Bristol, UK, 2016 (England Premiere)
Lusaka International Film and Arts Festival 2016 Lusaka, Zambia, 2016 (Africa Premiere)
Grierson Awards - Best Newcomer, Shortlisted, London, UK, 2016
Mother Tongue Film Festival Manchester, UK, 2017
One World Film Festival Prague, Czech Republic, 2017 (continental European Premiere)
World Film Festival, Tartuu, Estonia, 2017
Addis International Film Festival, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2017
Human Rights Nights Film Festival, Italy, 2017

Cinema Screenings
UK: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Oban, Portree, Lochmaddy, Stornoway, 2016
Zambia: Fresh View Cinemas, 2017

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Irma Caceres: The Goddess of Truth

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:45:00 GMT

Irma Caceres: The Goddess of Truth
Buy Now: $295.00

Teenage years are fraught with problems, tension and uncontrollable emotions. For an adolescent to also be an immigrant - in other words, an outsider - the problem is even more complex. Yet, there are very few resources at hand to help teachers and school administrators deal with this issue in the classroom.

This video provides a vehicle for engaging students in classroom discussions about what it means to be "different" and shows us the unique contributions that can be made by everyone when given the opportunity. It also demonstrates the practical use and positive results of using media as teaching tool.

"Through this video, I want that everybody and the whole world gets to know me for who I am, a good person, and a good human being. My project is about my life, my problems, for me it's a total release... and my big wish is to show my life on the Big Screen."

Irma is a young student from Honduras who, in addition to confronting the challenges of being an immigrant, also has learning and emotional disabilities that isolate her in high school. She was in an ESL (English as a Second Language) program when she met two young documentary filmmakers (Julie Criniere and Chih-Lan Lu) who came to help one of her teachers develop a documentary video curriculum. Recognizing the opportunity they presented, in the course of one semester's work, Irma used the video as an opportunity to learn about herself and communicate with the outside world.

The documentary flows seamlessly between the layers of Irma's fantasy realm and the reality of her life. The making of the video was a process of self-discovery through which emerges the powerful voice of a young woman who wants to transform the world she lives in through the poetic use of the medium of film.

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Imagine a School... Summerhill

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:44:00 GMT

Imagine a School... Summerhill
Buy Now: $320.00

In 1997, Tony Blair's new Labor Government took steps to improve standards in education. Ironically, this would threaten the existence of an unusual little school in Suffolk called Summerhill...

So begins an extraordinary documentary about an exemplary school in England, in which the students, the staff and a few formidable barristers take on OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) and Tony Blair's Labor Government to fight for its existence and the lifeblood of alternative education throughout the world. It was a fight that not only saved the prestigious institution, but proved the very educational principals on which the school was founded. In the process, some remarkable young people were given a chance to see how they had grown within Summerhill's unique democratic system and an up close lesson in modern government.

Summerhill, the famous coed alternative boarding school, was threatened with closure by the British Labor Government because it refused to compromise its educational and social philosophy. Attendance in classes is voluntary, and children can play all day if they feel like it. The school runs as a free and completely democratic society. Rules are developed and adopted in weekly meetings, in which every member of the school community, from a five-year old child to the headmistress, has an equal vote. At Summerhill, the emotional development of children comes first, lessons second.

Imagine a documentary...

The filmmakers hand three camcorders, to be shared amongst the community, over to 11-year-old students with the instructions: here are the cameras - now shoot. At first the students don't even know how to work the equipment. Over time they are documenting their daily lives, capturing the life of Summerhill from an unfiltered and authentic child's point of view. Over the next six years, the filmmakers film and interview students, staff and alumni and chronicle the chain of circumstances that end in a most unexpected turn of events.

The film follows a number of students from the ages of eleven to sixteen as they grow up and make important decisions about life and their education at the same time that they become involved in the legal and political fight to save their school. We watch them work and play and see them develop as they take on the increased responsibilities that come with age and experience in a self-governing community. The film follows the same children who sneak out of their dorms at night and dance to The Spice Girls at the end of term party as they go on to help run the democratic processes of their school, give a press conference at the Houses of Parliament and, finally and triumphantly, turn the high court into an unprecedented and historical Summerhill general meeting to decide whether or not to accept the terms of the British government.

"Imagine a School... Summerhill is a film that challenges one's thinking on education and government's role in regulating it. This film illuminates alternatives as well as hope for the future. ”
— Erik Sean McGiven, Film News and Views

“A must see for anybody interested in education, progressive, alternative, and humanist ideas.”
— Personalised Education Now

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

11th Astra Film Festival, Romania, 2011
Jersey Shore Film Festival, 2009
Nomination, Kids First! Best Award in the category of documentary for 13-18 year olds, Kids First! Film Festival, 2009
Santa Fe Film Festival, 2009

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La Memoire Dure

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:41:00 GMT

La Memoire Dure
Buy Now: $320.00

Ibrahim lived with his uncle in the woods in Mali, for a few days he attended Koran school. He arrived in France using his cousin's passport. Alpha comes from Liberia, he lived in the city and during the war his family was dispersed; he arrived in France with a false passport. Nawel lived in Algeria where his large family was forced to have him adopted and taken to France. All these children attended the same preparation class for learning French in a compulsory school in Paris taught by the teacher Pascale. This fast course (total immersion) is aimed at inserting them as soon as possible in normal primary school classes.

For 9 months, the film director, an anthropologist teaching Visual Anthropology at the University of Tromso in Norway, filmed these children from various nationalities, showing how they were received in France and the relationship established between teachers and pupils. The children learn not only the language but also the values of their host society. Each child has strengths that often cannot be utilized effectively by the school but that are brought to light in the film. The struggle and endurance of the teacher reveals her to be a dedicated and passionate educator.

The children, their parents or care takers, teachers and administrators were involved as part of the filmmaking process. Issues of immigration, cultural assimilation, social integration and educational philosophy are analyzed within the context of this film.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

Jury Prize, Nuoro International Film Festival Italy, 2000

Tromsø International Film Festival, Norway 2001

Festival International du Cinema du Reel, Paris, France, Centre Pompidou 2001

Bilan du Film Ethnographique, Musee de l’Homme, Paris 2001

Beeld for Beeld, Anthropological Film Festival, Amsterdam 2001

British Film Institute, London, Conference: Global Image or Global Media? U.K. 2001

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Breaking the Cycle

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:36:00 GMT

Breaking the Cycle
Buy Now: $320.00

In 1996, the state-funded Woodlands Country Primary School in Gillingham, Kent, UK was situated in one of the most socio-economically deprived areas outside the inner cities. Pupil places were under-subscribed: 160 out of a possible 240 capacity. Subjected to years of neglect through Council underinvestment, its underachieving students aged 4 - 11 years were destined to be filtered through into similarly poor secondary schools and a life of mediocrity.

There was no magic wand. It took open minds to see the vision of new head Nic Fiddaman "to get it": commitment from staff, governors and parents, and guts to put children's emotional well-being above government targets and league tables. It also took years of chasing grants, subsidies and outside sponsorship to expand the school and its facilities, for which there were many more disappointments than successes. Every negative response became a springboard to seek another way. Failure was not acceptable, not when the children come first.

Today Woodlands is unrecognisable - consistently listed as one of the best schools in the country and expanded to provide nursery care for pre-school children as well as after-school programs for students. As its renown has grown, so have student numbers, in an area where pupil numbers have been steadily decreasing due to a drop in the birth rate.

The school now supports its pupils and community through subsidised sports facilities and a programme of arts, drama, dance and music - also providing free music lessons, a fully functional theatre and professional football fields.

Breaking the Cycle is not a blueprint for change, nor a manual on how to turn around a failing primary school in Britain, but it can be a tool for inspiring those considering or implementing change in their own school communities.

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