We’re pleased to offer free teaching resources for award-winning documentaries and feature films with young protagonists who students can relate to. Youth-centered films are a wonderful way to boost student engagement across the curriculum and at the same time increase students’ understanding of themselves and the world around them.
Show Students Heroes That They Can Relate To — With Film
This feature film from Iran tells the story of a young brother and sister on a quest for a new pair of shoes. Our Children of Heaven Curriculum Guide features arts and science lessons, plus an introduction Iran and its culture. It’s a great global education tool.
This Oscar-nominated documentary shares with insight, humor, and joy the experiences of a group of disabled teenagers and their journey to adulthood and activism that sparked a revolutionary disability rights movement. We offer a Crip Camp Curriculum Guide with film studies, media literacy, and humanities lessons, that includes a powerful lesson on language, power and ableism, a great addition to anti-bias education toolkits. We also offer a Crip Camp Discussion Guide that empowers students around activism and civic engagement.
This BAFTA-winning documentary explores the events leading up to the Taliban’s attack on Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai for speaking out on girls’ education, followed by the aftermath, including her speech to the United Nations. We offer a He Named Me Malala Curriculum Guide with film studies and humanities lessons, including an English Language Arts lesson about her speech as the youngest ever Nobel Prize Laureate. We also offer a He Named Me Malala Discussion Guide that explores Pakistan, religious extremism, the importance of education, and community engagement.
This award-winning documentary follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical group of students who play instruments made entirely out of garbage. Our Landfill Harmonic Curriculum Guide features lessons about these musical upcycling heroes for arts and science classes.
This a heartwarming feature film from India tells the story of a boy with dyslexia who thrives with the support of his new art teacher. Our Like Stars on Earth Curriculum Guide features lessons across the curriculum, including a science lesson about how the brain works, as well as introductions to India and to Bollywood films.
Please Vote for Me, about elections for class monitor in a Chinese elementary school, is a perfect movie for classroom learning on democracy and voting, especially for Grades 3-7. Our Please Vote For Me Curriculum Guide features lessons across the curriculum, including an introduction to China and several aspects of Chinese culture, as well as a civics lesson about democracy.
Hit Disney film Queen of Katwe follows the rise of young chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi from a slum in Uganda to become an international chess star. Our Queen of Katwe Discussion Guide explores themes of Black Excellence, Black History, Chess, Gender Equity, Mentoring.
In Chewitel Ejiofor’s directorial debut, William Kamkwamba is forced to leave school after when his family falls behind on payments in drought-stricken Malawi. He becomes determined to help not only his family but a community facing famine — and builds a windmill out of scrap materials and bicycle parts. Our The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Curriculum Guide features lessons across the curriculum, including science lessons that get students excited about engineering and STEM fields. Our The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind Discussion Guide explores themes of Black Excellence, Black History, Character, Climate Change, Desertification, Engineering and Activism, and Wind Power.
This joyful feature film follow the adventures of two young refugee Tibetan monks who are determined to watch the World Cup. Our The Cup Curriculum Guide introduces students to Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, and the world of refugees, with lessons across the curriculum.
This heart-warming feature film follows a young Saudi girl despite cultural norms about girls’ roles in society desperately wants the freedom of a bicycle. Our Wadjda Curriculum Guide introduces Saudi Arabia, social constructions of gender, and also Saudi Arabia’s historic first woman film director Haifaa Al Mansour (the director of Wadjda).
This acclaimed feature film from Aotearoa / New Zealand follows a young Māori girl who is determined to fulfill her destiny despite traditional gender barriers. (Wadjda and Whale Rider make a great global education double bill!) Our Whale Rider Curriculum Guide introduces Māori culture and features lessons across the curriculum.
This powerful documentary follows the 21 youth plaintiffs suing the US federal government in a landmark climate justice case for their right to a safe climate. Our Youth v Gov Curriculum Guide features lessons that dig into the connections between climate laws, fossil fuels, the government, and the court system. We also offer a Youth v Gov Discussion Guide that caps off the exploration of the films main themes with an inspiring section on community action and engagement.
We hope these materials can help you give your students the unparalleled experience of seeing young people like themselves and their friends on screen as heroes and role models.
Violin Day Teaching Resources
Looking for ways to teach with film for Violin Day on December 13? Celebrate Violin Day with these beautiful films featuring violins and violinists plus our free teaching guides with lesson plans that cover subjects across the curriculum including Music Education, Language Arts, Social Studies, History, Environmental Science and more!
Four Great Films to Teach About Violins and Music
Disney’s hit film Chevalier was inspired by the true story of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the revolutionary Black violinist, composer and fencer at the court of Marie Antoinette. The Chevalier Discussion Guide explores Joseph Bologne’s legacy, as well as the impact of music and the arts on social and cultural revolutions. For high school.
Defiant Requiem, a powerful Holocaust Education film, chronicles how prisoners at Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp used music and the arts as a tool of resilience and resistance. The Defiant Requiem Curriculum Guide includes lessons on Verdi and his requiem, and also on the psychology of art and resilience. For grades 6 and up.
Landfill Harmonic is an inspiring documentary about the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, the Paraguayan classical music group that plays instruments made entirely out of upcycled garbage. The Landfill Harmonic Curriculum Guide includes a lesson all about this amazing youth orchestra. For grades 5-10.
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble presents a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind that brings together musicians and artists from around the world. The Music of Strangers Curriculum Guide features a lesson on ancient instruments and a printable PDF about traditional instruments around the world. For grades 9-10.
Plan Ahead
In addition to Violin Day on December 13, these films are also great choices to teach with for Music in Our Schools Month in March, Classical Music Month in September, and International Music Day on October 1.
Our educational resources and content are often shared by other premium educational organizations like Share My Lesson, Edutopia, Video Librarian and others. On these sites, and others, you’ll find free lesson plans, articles of relevance for educators, film reviews and filmmaker interviews and much more. Here are just a few examples of where you’ll find Journeys in Film around the web!
We’d love to hear from you about your favorite educational resource sites: What are your go-to sites for educational resources? What additional educational sites would you like to see us on? How can we support your teaching initiatives? Get in touch and let us know!
Big Sonia Now Available on PBS Through 2025
Big Sonia is now available on PBS for the next three years! This makes the film even more accessible for your classroom use. Our free curriculum guide for the film features 5 lessons. These include an introduction to the Holocaust, an oral history assignment and more. This incredible film is 96 years in the making. It’s a film you don’t want your students to miss.
Certainly, Sonia’s enormous personality masks the horrors she endured. At 15 she watched her mother disappear behind gas chamber doors. Additionally, Sonia’s teenage years were a blur of concentration camps and death marches. On liberation day, she was accidentally shot through the chest, yet again miraculously survived. Thus, Sonia is the ultimate survivor. She is also a bridge between cultures and generations.
Her story must never be forgotten.
Filmmakers Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday spent over 12 years creating this loving and thought-provoking portrait. Clearly, they persevered against some of modern history’s most jaw-dropping events. Such events include: the election of president who had never held office, the storming of the US Capitol, and now the invasion of a sovereign nation. Altogether, we see that Sonia’s story is more relevant than ever.
Through PBS, the film is currently available to 80% of U.S. markets. You can access the full broadcast schedule here. Critics praise the film. Students connect with the film because Sonia was their age during the Holocaust.
“Engaging and thoughtful…An unforgettable woman refuses to forget in this thoughtful exploration of history’s fallout.”
“Sonia is a powerful subject.”
Big Sonia’s Story Empowers Student Learning
BIG SONIA interweaves Sonia’s past and present using first-person narrative with stories from family and friends. Along the way, we learn valuable life lessons – “Soniaisms” – from a woman who can barely see over the steering wheel, yet insists on driving herself to work every day to run her late husband’s tailor shop, John’s Tailoring. Her influence spans generations and cultures, and we see first-hand how she transforms a room of self-involved teenagers into thoughtful citizens.
You can read an interview that our Director of Programs and Outreach did with filmmaker Leah Warshawski on Video Librarian.
Summer of Soul – Now an Oscar Winner
At Journeys in Film, we are committed to educating the next generation to be globally competent and socially active by harnessing the power of film. As such, we create free curriculum guides and discussion guides for films. Our newest resource is a guide featuring 6 Lesson Plans for Summer of Soul – now an Oscar winner. To its many laurels, the film now adds the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. You can download this free curriculum guide with lessons focused on U.S. History, Civics, Music and more here.
Moreover, Summer of Soul‘s Oscar win comes on the heels of a slew of awards throughout award season. These include the BAFTA for Best Documentary Feature, Film Independent Spirit Award and several others. The documentary tells the story of the legendary 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Previously, this historic event was lost to the annals of history, but is now front and center.
Oscar Winners and Nominees in Our Library
Several other films in our library also received honors in the past from The Academy in the form of nominations and wins. The Post received two nominations: Best Actress (Meryl Streep) and Best Picture in 2018. Our 8-lesson curriculum guide features a lesson on fake news. Hidden Figures, our most popular curriculum guide, received three nominations in 2017. They were Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer). Bridge of Spies received six nominations. They were Best Supporting Actor (Mark Rylance), Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Sound Mixing. Our discussion guide focuses on the Cold War and implications for today.
The beautiful film Whale Rider garnered Keisha Castle Hughes a Best Actress nomination (2004). Our 10-lesson curriculum guide offers resources on exploring Maori culture as well as math, science, media literacy and more. Children of Heaven received a Best Foreign Language Film nomination in 1999. It is a relatable, touching film about siblings in Iran. Our 10-lesson curriculum guide offers opportunities to teach about Iran as well as the science of earthquakes and more.
Finally, Schindler’s List, one of the first films we created resources for, dominated the Oscars in 1994. The film received 7 wins and a total of 11 nominations. Wins include: Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction (Set), Best Film Editing, Best Music (Original Score). Nominations include: Best Actor (Liam Neeson), Best Supporting Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Makeup.
More Resources Coming Soon
Additionally, next month we’ll be releasing our free curriculum guide for the powerful documentary film Crip Camp. This essential film about disability rights and the disability justice movement was nominated for Best Documentary Feature in 2021. Sign-up for our email list to receive notice of the guide’s availability.
We are so proud of Summer of Soul. We hope you will join us in bringing this important film to your classroom. Download the curriculum guide today! Peruse additional resources as well. Together, let’s bring the power of film to students. It can inspire, engage and educate!
