The Magnet Has Secrets

Fly by Light

For the first time, four DC youth play in mountain streams, sing under the stars, and confront the entrenched abuse of their past. As they return to the city, each faces an unforgiving series of roadblocks that challenge their efforts to build a better life. From street corners to mountaintops, Fly By Light is an intimate exploration of the emotional journey to rewrite a young person's future.

Son of the Streets

2020

13-year-old Khodor is a child whose family tries to issue him an ID document that proves his existence and gives him the right to education, health-care and movement outside of the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut, Lebanon. Through the process, many of the family's old secrets are revealed.

The School and the Boat

2021

Every day, at sunrise, the Sítio Porto Alegre School students arrive by boat for another school day. As Professor Rui seeks to catch the attention of the 3rd grade children, new principal Leidi and school boatman Raimundo try to solve the lack of fuel problem caused by the little money sent by the government. These are rainy days in Curralinho township, on Marajó Island, where a school community resists.

Spring Fever

2019 · ★ 5

A glimpse into a refreshingly different sex education class in the Netherlands.

Maestras Voluntarias

2022

Ana Deborah Mola and Belkis Lescaille were among the first young teachers who started pilot programs around the island of Cuba in 1960, laying foundation for the massive National Literacy Campaign that would take place the following year.

A Brief History of Time

1991 · ★ 7.2

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

Acadia Acadia?!?

1971 · ★ 7.3

In the late 1960s, with the triumph of bilingualism and biculturalism, New Brunswick's Université de Moncton became the setting for the awakening of Acadian nationalism after centuries of defeatism and resignation. Although 40% of the province's population spoke French, they had been unable to make their voices heard. The movement started with students-sit-ins, demonstrations against Parliament, run-ins with the police - and soon spread to a majority of Acadians. The film captures the behind-the-scenes action and the students' determination to bring about change. An invaluable document of the rebirth of a people.

Capturing the Electrons

2024 · ★ 10

Capturing the Electrons documents the life and career of Nobel Prize-winning Hungarian physicist Ferenc Krausz. His research team has generated and measured the first attosecond light pulse and used it for capturing electrons' motion inside atoms, marking the birth of attophysics. In 2023, jointly with Pierre Agostini and Anne L'Huillier, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Writing the Land

2007

In this short documentary, a Musqueam elder rediscovers his Native language and traditions in the city of Vancouver, in the vicinity of which the Musqueam people have lived for thousands of years. Writing the Land captures the ever-changing nature of a modern city - the glass and steel towers cut against the sky, grass, trees and a sudden flash of birds in flight and the enduring power of language to shape perception and create memory.

La Lucha: Getting Schooled in America

La Lucha follows five students navigating trauma, poverty, and broken systems as they fight to graduate. With expert voices and national stats, the film challenges us to rethink education from the ground up

Behind Our Walls

2023

In America, the prison system has become a place of retribution, not restoration. Inmates are often treated as sub-human, and often find themselves feeling hopeless. But a small midwest college decides to give inmates an opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree. Experience the journey of the resilient inmates as they fight incredible odds to change their lives – and change the system.

To Be and to Have

2002 · ★ 7.3

The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.