L'école de demain

The Language Master

March 1997 •English

Michel Thomas is one of the most brilliant language teachers in the world. His usual clients are movie stars and business leaders. This programme takes him to a Sixth Form College in London to work with school pupils, to test his claim that he can teach anyone a language in a week - with no reading, writing or homework. The film also explores his personal history - as a hero of the French Resistance during WW II. Nigel’s documentary with the 85 year old Michel Thomas was the first time that Thomas allowed his techniques to be made public. The subsequent success of the film transformed Thomas into a global celebrity and his method into one of the most highly regarded in the world of education.

Bente gaar til Sygeplejen

September 1945 •Danish

A movie about the education for nurse told from Bente's perspective. She starts at the preschool at Rødkilde Højskole at Møn and comes from there to a hospital, where student time begins. After three years, Bente is trained and can get the nursing needle attached to the robe.

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.

Nanook of the North

June 1922 •English

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

January 2008 •English

Morgan Spurlock tours the Middle East to discuss the war on terror with Arabic people.

Who We Are

June 2013 •English

Autism spectrum disorder (DSA) - It is not what they have, but what they are, who they are. They are Felix, Anthony, Marc and Brigitte. They are different.

Backpack Full of Cash

October 2016 •English

Documentary warning about the decline of American public schools as they become more and more privatized.

Beluga Days

January 1968 •French

From the lower St. Lawrence, a picture of whale hunting that looks more like a round-up, with a corral, whale-boys and all. In 1534, when he stopped at the island he named l'Île-aux-Coudres, Jacques Cartier saw how the Indians captured the little white beluga whales by setting a fence of saplings into off-shore mud. In the film, the islanders show that the old method still works, thanks to the trusting 'sea-pigs,' the same old tide, and a little magic.

Writing the Land

December 2007 •English

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.

Acadia Acadia?!?

May 1971 •French

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.

Dance for All

September 2007 •English

Léa devant la caméra

November 2023 •French

Revisiting her film set photos, director Léa Pool reflects on her prolific career. The filmmaker left Switzerland at the age of 25 to settle in Quebec and embark on a surprising career. She reinvents herself from film to film, exploring themes that deeply resonate with her: identity, exile, maternal absence, transitional spaces... In both documentary and fiction, she has directed 20 feature films that feature strong female characters and contemporary issues. Somewhere between a masterclass and an intimate conversation, this documentary invites Léa to share her cinematic journey in front of the camera.

To Be and to Have

August 2002 •French

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.

Maestras Voluntarias

April 2022 •Spanish

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.

Daughter of the Crater

September 2019 •French

A woman with a deep love of the land, Yolande Simard Perrault sees her life as having been shaped by a planetary upheaval in Charlevoix, Quebec, millions of years ago. As enduring as the Canadian Shield, she’s a woman of strength and spirit, a child of the crater left by the meteor’s impact. This documentary portrays a determined woman who’s the reflection of a land created on an immense scale. She was the creative and life partner of filmmaker Pierre Perrault, who gave up everything to be by her side. The film charts the influence of her unquenchable dreams and her contribution to the building of a people’s collective memory. In a stream of images and words, Simard Perrault recounts the splendours of the landscape and the people who shaped it. Generous and boundless, she embarks on a quest for identity that nurtures and perpetuates the oeuvre of the man who breathed new life into Quebec cinema.

The Great Invasion

April 2012 •French

The film looks at the impact of over-development in historic towns in Quebec’s picturesque Laurentian mountains. As big box stores and large retailers drive local merchants out of business, and foreign developers buy up huge tracts of land for resorts, local residents’ property taxes are skyrocketing. While the locals organize against expropriation by taxation, an internationally-known artist, René Derouin, adds his creative energy to protect the heritage of “Les pays d’en haut” from The Great Invasion.

Pojď s námi na palubu!

January 1949 •Czech

Jack Kerouac's Road: A Franco-American Odyssey

March 1987 •French

Part documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.

Not Even in a Wildest Dream

June 2017 •Portuguese

The challenges of the present, expectations for the future, and the dreams of those who experience the reality of public high school in Brazil. Through the voices of students, principals, teachers and experts, "Not Even In a Wildest Dream" offers a reflection on the value of education.

Teach Me If You Can

April 2021 •French

The three teachers Svetlana, Sandrine and Taslima teach children and young people in places that are hardly accessible for “normal” lessons - in a nomad tent under the snow cover of Siberia, in a hut in the bushland of Burkina Faso and on a school boat in Bangladesh. They share a common goal: to enable their students to have a better future through education.