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With spectacular real-life visuals and true personal stories, documentaries can offer young people a highly engaging way to develop their critical thinking and empathy. We are therefore delighted to announce the addition of six new gripping and very topical documentaries to Into Film+, our free* streaming service for schools.
These stories reflect other young people's experiences and how they have learnt to be brave. This includes finding forms of self-expression that feel authentic and empowering, learning to admit when we've mishandled situations, and standing up for what we believe in. The films address topics including disabilities, social media, climate change, mental health, employment and racism, and are relevant to curricular subjects such as History, Citizenship, Performing Arts, English, Geography, Physical Education and more. Each documentary is accompanied by a film guide to unpack these topics and encourage further discussion.
Name Me Lawand
This moving documentary, licenced from the British Film Institute (BFI), explores the deaf experience through the eyes of a young refugee and his immediate family. After escaping Iraq and seeking asylum in the UK, five-year-old Lawand's world blossoms after he is enrolled at the Royal School for the Deaf in Derby, learning how to communicate for the very first time. Having never met another deaf person before, Lawand's journey is one of great personal discovery, but things grow complicated as he and his family face government deportation.
The accompanying film guide is designed to engage learners aged 14-16 and supports subjects including PSHE Education, Languages and Citizenship, in addition to highlighting themes surrounding disabilities and inclusion, family, and refugees.
Thank You for the Rain
After experiencing increasingly severe weather conditions, Kenyan farmer Kisilu picks up a camera to document how his day-to-day life and work are impacted by climate change. He starts galvanising his local community into taking action, before his campaign leads him to speak in front of an even bigger audience at the United Nations' climate change conference in Paris, in the hope that his story can sound the alarm for international decision makers.
The accompanying film guide is designed to engage learners aged 14-16 and supports subjects including Geography, in addition to highlighting themes surrounding campaigns and revolutions, climate change, poverty and filmmaking.
Plus, discover a series of in-depth lesson plans set around Thank You for the Rain created in partnership with DocAcademy relating to English Language and Geography assessment objectives, plus a bespoke toolkit on climate activism.
We Are Poets
Slam poetry is a dynamic, heartfelt and politicised form of creative expression that owes as much to the raw energy of hip-hop as to the written verse that's traditionally been taught in schools. This documentary follows six teenagers from Leeds as they develop their slam poetry skills and prepare to take the stage at the world championships in Washington DC. They discover a sense of pride and purpose through spoken word, using it to challenge stereotypes about "troubled youth" and other cultures. But as their big moment draws near, the young artists must learn to navigate further challenges.
The accompanying film guide is designed to engage learners aged 14-16 and supports subjects including English and PSHE Education, in addition to highlighting themes surrounding school, racism and prejudice, identity, growing up and performing arts.
The Neutral Ground
This politically charged yet highly accessible documentary challenges us to consider the ethics of preserving history. Public statues generally represent figures deemed worth remembering, but what if these historical figures have since been condemned for their actions? The comedian and filmmaker CJ Hunt travels around New Orleans to try and understand the backlash generated by proposals to take down several Confederate statues, which are considered by many as upholding racist ideology. But other people that CJ meets fiercely defend the statues as being part of local heritage - for better or worse.
The accompanying film guide is designed to engage learners aged 16+ and supports subjects including History and Citizenship, in addition to highlighting themes surrounding slavery, racism and prejudice, campaigns and revolutions, civil war, and historical periods.
Off the Rails
In their hometown of Guildford, best friends Rikke and Aiden use parkour and urban exploration to escape their mundane lives. They publish videos of themselves online in which they scale tall buildings and illegally surf trains, until a close friend of theirs is tragically killed when a stunt goes wrong. Both are traumatised by the incident but deal with it very differently. This documentary takes a look behind all the bravado, to question how young men who feel like they have few opportunities in life can engage positively with society, social media, and sport in order to support their own wellbeing.
The accompanying film guide is designed to engage learners aged 16+ and supports subjects including Physical Education, Psychology, and Media Studies in addition to highlighting themes surrounding extreme sports, mental health, life and death, mass media and community.
Even When I Fall
Every year, thousands of children in Nepal whose families can't afford to look after them end up being trafficked into Indian circuses. This was the case for Sheetal and Saraswoti, who have become young women by the time that they are rescued and brought back to live in a Kathmandu refuge. They set up Nepal's first circus made up entirely of trafficking survivors, reclaiming the performance skills that they were forced to learn and using them for good, to spread awareness about the dangers of trafficking.
The accompanying film guide is designed to engage learners aged 16+ and supports subjects including Performing Arts and Citizenship, in addition to highlighting themes surrounding slavery, child safety, family, community and theatre.
How Do I Get Started?
To access Into Film+, all you'll need is an Into Film Account - it's completely free, and only takes a moment to set up. Into Film+ is free to use for all UK state schools that hold a valid Public Video Screening (PVS) Licence from Filmbankmedia.
Filmbankmedia PVS Licences are paid for on behalf of schools by all local authorities in England and by some local authorities in both Wales and Scotland. Into Film NI cover the license cost for some schools in Northern Ireland. For further information on licensing in your locality please see our FAQs.
If you're a state school in England that's funded by the Department for Education, you will automatically have access to Into Film+ Premium, which offers an extended catalogue of 700+ titles. Find out more about Into Film+ Premium in our FAQs.
If you don't have a PVS Licence, or aren't already covered, then a licence can easily be obtained from Filmbankmedia.
Filmbankmedia
Filmbankmedia licenses and distributes film and TV entertainment to many groups and is the licensing authority we work with to ensure schools, libraries and youth groups have the permissions to screen films from our catalogue.
* Screenings for an entertainment or extra-curricular purpose require a PVS (Public Video Screening) Licence from Filmbankmedia. State-funded schools in England are covered by the PVS Licence.
The core Into Film programme is free for UK state schools, colleges and other youth settings, thanks to support from the BFI, awarding National Lottery good cause funding, and through other key funders including Cinema First and Northern Ireland Screen.
