The Children Must Learn

The Motivation Factor: to Become Smart, Productive & Mentally Stable

2017 · ★ 10

This award-winning documentary shows the irreplaceable role classical Physical Education plays to develop smart, productive and mentally stable citizens, and the out-of-control consequences we face today with its absence in our society.

Teacher Johannes Käis

1990

Documentary about the renowned Estonian pedagogue and educational reformer Johannes Käis. Made on commission for Estonian Ministry of Education.

Human Resources

2010 · ★ 8.1

Documentary film exploring the rise of mechanistic philosophy and the exploitation of human beings under modern hierarchical systems. Topics covered include behaviorism, scientific management, workplace democracy, schooling, frustration-aggression hypothesis, and human experimentation.

Cree Way

1977

This short documentary examines an innovative educational program developed by John and Gerti Murdoch to teach Cree children their language via Cree folklore, photographs, artifacts, and books that were written and printed in the community. Made as part of the NFB’s groundbreaking Challenge for Change series, Cree Way shows that local control of the education curriculum has a place in Indigenous communities.

La península de los volcanes

The documentary portrays the desires and ftures of four young people from the third year of secundary education in Chile. Two of them attend the industrial high school in the San Joaquín commune, where they have already begun their training as a textile technician. They both have dreams, they want to study, work, start a family and improve themselves. On the other hand, at the exclusive Saint George school, two students study in privileged conditions. They want to be professionals and develop through the arts. This is the portrait of two worlds located less than 20 kilometers apart and that can only be together in the audiovisual montage. It is the manifestation of the coincidences and contradictions that exist between the realities and the discourses of four young Chilean students in a fundamental stage for their future.

Dad... Can I Borrow the Car?

1970 · ★ 7.4

A live-action short, using many avant-garde film techniques, that looks at American car culture in the late 1960s. The main section deals with the many trials and obstacles a teenager must face on the path to being able to drive. Surviving the driver's education class is only the first step, as the teenager must then pass his driving test, and then finally get permission to borrow the family car.

Red Girl Rising

2025

Joyce Jonathan Crone—Mohawk matriarch, retired teacher, activist, humanitarian—reaches forward into her community of Huntsville, Ontario, opening hearts and bridging gaps for Indigenous education.

Knowing to Learn

1966 · ★ 10

This feature documentary about education explores the mid-century state of learning in the classrooms of North America. New approaches to learning and the emerging technologies that facilitate them are explored, including the new roles of the computer, tape recorder and television. Directed by Quebec cinema giant Claude Jutra (Mon Oncle Antoine), the film was produced with the collaboration of researchers studying all forms of education, from infancy to adulthood.

Misa's Fugue

2012 · ★ 9

The true story of one boy's journey as a victim of Nazi oppression. While exposed to some of the most horrific events of the Holocaust, Misa was able to endure the atrocities of genocide through his love of art and music.

L'école de demain

2020

No synopsis available.

Zoned In

2008

Winner of the New York LOVES Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008. Filmed over the course of nine years, Zoned In traces the remarkable real-life journey of 16-year-old Daniel from a Bronx high school to an Ivy League university while simultaneously exploring the role of race and class in the American education system. Narrated by Daniel himself, the movie celebrates the accomplishments of this extraordinary young man but does not shy away from depicting his struggles to fit in amongst the privileged students at his college and his candid questioning of a system that has allowed him to excel but has left so many of his friends and family members behind.

15 Days: The Real Story of America's Pandemic School Closures

2025 · ★ 10

A documentary revealing why America's school closures lasted longer than almost any other nation. Framed as a forensic analysis of what happened to children during school closures, it blends director Natalya Murakhver's perspective as a Soviet immigrant with voices of children and families nationwide, exposing devastating learning loss, mental health crises, and inequality.