Let the Child Be the Guide

What You’ll Remember

July 2021 •English

Homelessness in the United States takes many forms. For Elizabeth Herrera, David Lima and their four children, housing instability has meant moving between unsafe apartments, motels, relatives’ couches, shelters, the streets and their car. After 15 years of this uncertainty, the family moved into their first stable housing — an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

De Wereld aan je Voeten

October 2019 •Dutch

In 2010, director Michiel van Erp started filming a group of children in Utrecht. He kept filming them till 2018, the year they turned 18. The film portrays those moments which were crucial for the development and personal growth of the kids.

H.A.G.S. (Have a Good Summer)

April 2021 •English

A portrait of growing up told through filmmaker Sean Wang's middle school yearbook. Go Hornets.

James May: My Sisters' Top Toys

December 2007 •English

James May celebrates the toys that made his childhood hell as he opens the lid on his sisters' toy box. Sandwiched between elder sister Jane and younger one Sarah, many of their favourites he couldn't understand - or stand the sight of - or see the point of.

Lo zebù e la stella

March 2007 •Italian

A zebu disappears while children are drawing it. They find it again in the woods. The notes of a harp accompany their multi-coloured joy. This short was made with children from a nursery school in Mantua. Playing with colours, the children seem to conquer the world.

NDDJ (Notre-Dame-du-Jambon)

November 2022 •French

Karan and Rohan, two biracial brothers raised in a marginal environment, are finding ways to get stimulated on a normal summer day. They embark on a trip to buy candies to avoid boredom. This film plays with the sense of boundaries between what is real and what is fiction. It is a film about the love of two brothers and their singular reality in the countryside of Quebec.

Rise Above the Mark

December 2012 •English

The purpose of Rise Above the Mark, narrated by Peter Coyote, is to educate the general public about the “corporate takeover” of Indiana public schools and what parents, community members and educators can do to protect their local public schools. Legislators are calling the shots and putting public schools in an ever-shrinking box. WLCSC Board of School Trustees and Superintendent of Schools, Rocky Killion, want to secure resources and legislative relief necessary to achieve the school district’s mission of creating a world-class educational system for all children. The school district’s strategic plan will introduce a model of education that puts decision making back into the hands of local communities and public school teachers, rather than leaving it in the hands of legislators and ultimately lining the pockets of corporations.

Navrácený svět

December 1950 •Czech

A documentary about a vision care school that enables visually impaired children to learn the skills necessary for a full life.

Juzo Itami: The Man with 13 Faces

January 2007 •Japanese

A documentary about the legendary Japanese filmmaker.

The Birds Changed Names And The World Turned Into Ice

October 2022 •Spanish

Migrant families experience violence, but they also keep beautiful memories when they arrive in new lands. Fantastic and intimate stories, recalled from childhood, travel across time and space, magically intermingling with the help of the four elements and breaking the boundaries of cinema.

That Kid

January 1976 •French

A group of educators led by Fernand Deligny are working to create contact with autistic children in a hamlet of the Cevennes.

Pojď s námi na palubu!

January 1949 •Czech

First Case, Second Case

February 1979 •Persian

A documentary about a teacher who sends a group of pupils out of the classroom when one of them does not own up to talking behind the master's back.

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.

Little Girl

September 2020 •French

7-year-old Sasha has always known that she is a girl. Sasha’s family has recently accepted her gender identity, embracing their daughter for who she truly is while working to confront outdated norms and find affirmation in a small community of rural France.

Eric Carle, Picture Writer: The Art of the Picture Book

June 2011 •English

An intimate portrait of Eric Carle, creator of more than 70 books for children including the best-selling "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". At 82, Eric is still at work in his studio making books and creating art. As he methodically layers a tissue paper collage of the caterpillar, he describes the feeling he achieves working in his studio, the sense of being at peace, all alone, when everything grows quiet and it is just himself and his work. The film taps into that deep creative need in each of us, a spirit that started in Eric as a very young child and is unceasing today.

A Common Experience

June 2013 •English

A poetic exploration of the multi-generational affects of Canada's Indian Residential School system, based on the personal trials of Aboriginal playwright Yvette Nolan.

I Love You I Miss You I Hope I See You Before I Die

January 2020 •English

A harsh and dreamy story of a young girl from the American West and her longing heart. Through Betty we experience a tight family clan of children born by children born by children where love and dependency go hand in hand.

The ABCs of Book Banning

February 2024 •English

In recent years, more than 2,500 books have been removed from school districts around the US, labeled as banned, restricted, or challenged, and made unavailable to millions of students. By no accident, the themes targeted are the usual scapegoats of the American Right—LGBTQ+ issues, Black History, and women’s empowerment—impeding the power of future generations to develop their own thoughts and opinions on critical social issues. By weaving together a lyrical montage of young readers and authors, THE ABCs OF BOOK BANNING reveals the voices of the impacted parties, and inspires hope for the future through the profound insights of inquisitive youthful minds.

Celeste

June 2009 •Portuguese

"Against an adverse sky, Celeste raises her flight. If he went up, nobody knows, nobody saw."