The Academy of Muses

Mr. Holland's Opus

December 1995 •English

In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten but generations of students inspired through his teaching, Holland must redefine his life's purpose.

New Old Book

August 2024 •Portuguese

Desperate for clients, Isabelle, the owner of a small bookstore, accepts the offer to teach Caetano, an elderly illiterate man, how to read. The lessons turn into conversations about life and the history about their lives, even with contrasting experiences and opportunities. She begins to see in the lessons and in the closeness with her student a vocation never explored before.

Two Loves

May 1961 •English

American-born Anna Vorontosov teaches school in a remote, primitive section of northern New Zealand. Her experimental teaching methods have won her the love and affection of her pupils and their parents and the admiration of the unhappily married school inspector, Abercrombie. Her personal life, however, is less secure; frightened of love and sexually inhibited, she has always been aloof with men. Eager to break down this barrier is Englishman Paul Lathrope, a somewhat irrational and immature fellow teacher who aspires to be a singer. Though Anna is attracted to him, she refuses to submit to his advances.

What Is A Good Teacher

May 2000 •

Mr. Kong is not a typical Hong Kong teacher. He isn't happy just teaching his students in his class, but he would rather go to rave parties and play along with them, as well as follow his female students and sit with them in their revision classes. However, by the time Mr. Kong wins the hearts of his students, the school revealed that he is not qualified to be a teacher.

Blackboard Jungle

March 1955 •English

Richard Dadier is a teacher at North Manual High School, an inner-city school where many of the pupils frequently engage in anti-social behavior. Dadier makes various attempts to engage the students' interest in education, challenging both the school staff and the pupils. He is subjected to violence as well as duplicitous schemes.

School Life

October 2017 •English

John and Amanda teach Latin, English and guitar at a fantastical stately home-turned-school. Nearly 50-year careers are drawing to a close for the pair who have become legends with the mantra: “Reading! ’Rithmetic! Rock ’n’ roll!” But for pupil and teacher alike, leaving is the hardest lesson.

Joanne

January 2017 •English

Joanne is a model, a teacher, a fighter, a chameleon. But when her private semi-nude photos went public, this woman of many talents came to be simply known as 'the topless teacher'. Together with her former student, artist Simon Fujiwara, she seeks to reclaim her image through social media and branding tactics. Shifting between advertisement and portraiture, this meta-narrative on identity manages to infuse playfulness in its layered commentary on who you are and how you're seen.

Special Education

April 1977 •

Educator and those educated in a home for juvenile delinquents in the same test: approach, take a peek into his soul to become a man. The story of a minor, neglected boys-offenders and their teachers who try to reject the old methods of rehabilitation.

Delsey - What Matters Is Inside

April 2018 •French

Kinsey

September 2004 •English

Kinsey is a portrait of researcher Alfred Kinsey, driven to uncover the most private secrets of a nation. What begins for Kinsey as a scientific endeavor soon takes on an intensely personal relevance, ultimately becoming an unexpected journey into the mystery of human behavior.

The Fatal Comma

March 1979 •Bulgarian

Silviya is an excellent student, favorite of the teachers, but she does not do well in math. Silviya puts a comma in the school journal between the number 1 and 9 in the absences column in order to hide her absence from math class. The school regulation is set; three absences mean an administrative punishment. Two of her innocent classmates are punished, numbers 1 and 9, not number 19, which is Silviya. The teachers trust the "good girl". Silviya feels guilty.She is struggling between right and wrong. She must find the right answer for herself.

Class of Her Own

April 2024 •English

A teacher in a disadvantaged community rebels against a system that neglects many of its vulnerable students. Gloria Merriex transforms into a trailblazer, using rap, dance and other innovations to enable children to thrive in school—and beyond.

All the Silence

October 2023 •Spanish

Miriam teaches sign language in the mornings and is part of a professional theater production in the afternoons, maintaining a stable and passionate relationship with her girlfriend Lola. Although her life is very much connected to the routine of a deaf person, her world begins to crumble when she discovers that she is losing her hearing.

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

November 1969 •English

Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help of an outgoing showgirl. O'Toole, who received his fourth Oscar-nomination for this performance, is joined by '60s pop star Petula Clark and fellow Oscar-nominee Michael Redgrave.

Teaching War

October 2016 •Czech

This episode from the Czech Journal series examines how a military spirit is slowly returning to our society. Attempts to renew military training or compulsory military service and in general to prepare the nation for the next big war go hand in hand with society’s fear of the Russians, the Muslims, or whatever other “enemies”. This observational flight over the machine gun nest of Czech militarism becomes a grotesque, unsettling military parade. It can be considered not only to be a message about how easily people allow themselves to be manipulated into a state of paranoia by the media, but also a warning against the possibility that extremism will become a part of the regular school curriculum.

Lessons of a Dream

February 2011 •German

An English teacher brings soccer to a German school in the 19th Century.

Abducted

March 2007 •English

Melanie is married to Tom, a controlling, cold and self-centered man who happens to be a prison warden. He finds her to be a liability to his career aspirations and secretly plans to have her kidnapped and killed, by Jack, a dangerous inmate.

Non è mai troppo tardi

February 2014 •Italian

Alberto Manzi is twenty years old and wants to be a teacher. He gets the job at a juvenile correctional facility, to then get transfered to a proper school, who he deems inadequate. At that time the public broadcasting network Rai decides to realize a program to educate millions of Italians.

Michael Caine on Acting in Film, Arts and Entertainment

August 1987 •English

Michael Caine teaches the art of movie acting to five young actors, who perform scenes from Alfie (1966), Deathtrap (1982) and Educating Rita (1983)

A Circle of Children

March 1977 •English

A teacher at a school for emotionally disturbed children takes an interest in one particular child who doesn't talk but emits a stream of gibberish.