The Truth About Reading looks at the illiteracy problem in America, highlighting people who learned to read as adults, and sharing proposed solutions for working towards a future where every child learns to read proficiently.
To Be and to Have (2002)
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.
A City Decides (1956)
A City Decides chronicles the events that led to the integration of the St. Louis public schools in 1954. An Oscar-nominated short documentary from 1956.
If You Build It (2013)
A year in the life of one of America's most innovative classrooms where students design & build to transform their hometown community. The film follows Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller as they teach the fundamentals of design, architecture and construction to a class of high school juniors in rural North Carolina.
La península de los volcanes (NaN)
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.
Mocha (2019)
A collective work created by students of Bachillerato Popular Mocha Celis in Buenos Aires, the first of its kind in the world, the place offers transvestite and transgender adults the opportunity to complete their high-school studies. The films focuses on identity, inclusion, political activism and equal access to the right to education.
Nursery University (2008)
Set in New York City, the epicenter of a phenomenon cropping up in communities across the United States, "Nursery University" reveals the oddly competitive process of nursery school admissions. The film tells the story of five families attempting to place their toddlers in preschool classrooms that have limited space and high price tags.
B Is for Book (2016)
Documentary following a group of primary schoolchildren over the course of a year as they learn to read. Some of them make a flying start, but others struggle even with the alphabet. The film takes us into their home lives, where we find that some parents are strongly aspirational, tutoring children late into the night, while others speak English as a foreign language, if at all. As the children master the basics, they discover the magical world of stories and look with fresh eyes at the world around them. The film gives us privileged access to a profound process that all of us only ever do once in our lives.
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.
Junge Leute (1971)
A documentary about young people just starting their higher education and their professional life.
Odyssey (2023)
Six California kids test their brains and talents against students in Odyssey of the Mind, a problem-solving competition requiring mechanical, creative and intellectual skills. With little money and zero adult participation, the teens build a robot to tell a story about bullying, exclusion and mental health. But how does their solution measure up?
Kpaima (2020)
Norma Kpaima's contribution to indigenous education is unique and urgent for neglected communities.
Unstoppable Solar Cycles (NaN)
Concern over global climate change may be at an all-time high, but climate change is nothing new - the earth's climate always followed natural cycles of warming and cooling. In Unstoppable Solar Cycles, Dr. Willie Soon and Dr. David Legates challenge the popular idea that human-generated CO2, is causing catastrophic global warming. These scientists propose an alterantive theory - that the current warming has more to do with solar activity than with human activity.
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008)
Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) tours the Middle East to discuss the war on terror with Arabic people.
The Hidden Agenda for World Government (1990)
From an archived interview originally recorded in 1982, this 1990 production reveals the findings of chief congressional investigator, Director of Research, Norman Dodd, and exposes the scope and purpose of various organizations in the findings of the 1953 Reece Special Committee on Tax Exempt Foundations.