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Filmography - Education: Feature Films

Titles available on DVD and streaming video as of March 2011

Education Filmography - Feature Films

Titles available on DVD as of March 2011. 

Including fictional and biographical narratives with education-related themes.

Filmographies are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the ALADIN catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date holdings (including VHS tapes) please refer to the library ALADIN catalog (www.catalog.wrlc.org)

 

 

Blackboard jungle. 2005. 1 videodisc (100 min.). Film about life in an inner city high school in the 50s that was the first to utilize a rock 'n' roll soundtrack. A dedicated young teacher soon loses his idealism when he has to deal with the tensions that threaten to destroy his classroom. DVD 1232

Takhté siah = Blackboards. 2004. 1 videodisc (82 min.). A group of male teachers crosses the mountainous paths of the remote Iranian Kurdish region. The men wander from village to village in search of students, carrying large blackboards on their backs. The boards are sometime used as shelter, camouflage, and shields instead of for teaching purposes. One by one the men venture away from the group in search of students to teach. Along their way they must face other hardships and obstacles, including unseen enemy helicopters and gunfire. DVD 1035

The breakfast club. High school reunion collection. 2003. 1 videodisc (97 min.). Five teenage students (a jock, a dweeb, a rebel, a wallflower and a spoiled brat) spend a Saturday detention together in their high school library under the watchful eyes of teacher Mr. Vernon (Paul Gleason). At 7 a.m. with nothing in common they have little to say to one another, but by 4 p.m., they have come to a more compassionate understanding and emerge as friends. DVD 2179

Children of a lesser god. Widescreen DVD collection. 2000. 1 videodisc (118 min.). A love story about John Leeds, an idealistic special education teacher, and a headstrong deaf girl named Sarah. At first, Leeds sees Sarah as a teaching challenge. But soon their relationship blossoms into a love so passionate it shatters the barrier of silence that keeps them apart. DVD 5040

The children's hour. 2002. 1 videodisc (108 min.). When a vindictive little girl is disciplined in an exclusive girl's school, the child twists an overheard comment into slander. She accuses her teachers of lesbianism and her gullible grandmother spreads the gossip. Outraged, Karen and Martha fight back in court, but a child's lie is hard to disprove. DVD 2346

Dangerous minds. 1999. 1 videodisc (99 min.). Based on a true story. When an ex-Marine becomes a high school English teacher, she is assigned to a tough class of inner-city teenagers. In order to teach them, she must first discover how to gain and keep their trust and attention. DVD 5839

Dead poets society. 1998. 1 videodisc (129 min.). Robin Williams portrays English professor John Keating, who, in an age of crew cuts, sport coats and cheerless conformity, inspires his students to live life to the fullest, exclaiming "Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary!" The charismatic teacher's emotionally charged challenge is met by his students with irrepressible enthusiasm, but leads to tragedy for one student.  All their lives may be changed forever, but the audience is left with a promise of hope for the future. Be true to your self and follow your own path. DVD 303

Educating Rita. 2006. 1 videodisc (ca. 111 min.). Rita, a young working-class woman in Liverpool, desperately wants an education. She enrolls in literature tutorials at a British university to escape from her dreary life as a hairdresser, as well as a confining existence at home with a husband who wants her to choose motherhood over education. Her professor is Frank Bryant, a disillusioned, alcoholic English professor who encourages his students to forsake dead poetry and enjoy life. As Rita is transformed into a free spirit, Frank is forced to confront his own life. DVD 5807

An education. 2010. 1 videodisc (100 min.). In the early 1960's, 16-year-old Jenny Mellor lives with her parents in a London suburb. She is smart, pretty, and working toward her goal of being accepted into Oxford. Her life will take a big turn when she meets David, a man twice her age. Now she must decide if she will pursue an education at Oxford, or if she will choose to learn all that a charismatic older man can teach her. DVD 7048

Entre les murs = Class. p2009. 1 videodisc (128 min.). Based on Begaudeau's autobiographical novel. Francois and his fellow teachers prepare for a new year at a high school in a tough Paris neighborhood. Armed with the best intentions, they brace themselves to not let discouragement stop them from trying to give the best education to their students. Cultures and attitudes often clash in the classroom, a microcosm of contemporary France. As amusing and inspiring as the teenaged students can be, their difficult behavior can still jeopardize any teacher's enthusiasm for the low-paying job. Francois insists on an atmosphere of respect and diligence. Neither stuffy nor severe, his extravagant frankness often takes the students by surprise. But his classroom ethics are put to the test when his students begin to challenge his methods. DVD 6099

Fame. 2010. 1 videodisc (110 min.). Passions will be tested and young hearts will be broken. Ultimately, talent, dedication and hard work will triumph. Centers around a group of dancers, singers, musicians and actors at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, and their spirited drive to live out their dreams of stardom. In an incredibly competitive atmosphere, each student must shine amidst the tumult of school work, deep friendships, budding romance and self-discovery. DVD 7043

Finding Forrester. 2001. 1 videodisc (136 min.). Jamal Wallace is a talented young basketball player in New York City whose secret passion is writing. After an accidental meeting, Forrester, a reclusive novelist, becomes Jamal's unlikely mentor. Soon, both men learn lessons from each other about life and the importance of friendship. DVD 5270

Good Will Hunting. Miramax collector's series. 1997. 1 videodisc (126 min.). A young working-class genius is hauled back from the brink of self-destruction by a gifted counselor. DVD 1724

Happy-go-lucky. 2009. 1 videodisc (119 min.). Poppy is a life-loving and irrepressibly cheerful primary school teacher. She is thirty years old, single, and infinitely optimistic and accepting. She lives with her best friend and flatmate Zoe in London. She is tested by a repressed driving instructor with anger problems, and, in turn, she decides to test him. She has exciting flamenco lessons, an encounter with a homeless man, an argument with her pregnant sister, and a love-affair with the social worker guiding one of her students.  DVD 6888

High school musical. Disney DVD. 2006. 1 videodisc (ca. 98 min.). A popular high school basketball star and a shy, academically gifted newcomer secretly decide to audition for their school's musical, a decision that turns their world and their school upside down. DVD 6098

The history boys. 2007. 1 videodisc (112 min.). Centers around eight boisterous-yet-talented schoolboys hoping to gain admittance to England's most prestigious universities. They are aided on their quest by two teachers, a shrewd young upstart and an inspiring old eccentric, whose opposing philosophies challenge the boys to confront the true meaning of education and the relative values of happiness and success. DVD 3509

Hoosiers. 2000. 1 videodisc (115 min.). A basketball coach with a checkered past leads him to a last-chance position with a last-chance team. DVD 3567

Inherit the wind. 2001. 1 videodisc (128 min.). A small Tennessee town gained national attention in 1925 when a biology schoolteacher was arrested for violating state law and teaching Darwin's theory of evolution in the classroom. DVD 1677

Lean on me. 1998. 1 videodisc (109 min.). This is the fact-based story of high school principal Joe Clark, who armed himself with a bullhorn and a Louisville Slugger and slammed the door on losers at Eastside High in Paterson, New Jersey. Faced with a school that had been known mainly for its drugs and crime, Clark chained the doors shut to keep trouble-makers out and strivers in. Parents fought him; teachers fought him. But lots of kids loved him. DVD 4935

Mr. Holland's opus. 1999? 1 videodisc (143 min.). A frustrated composer comes to realize that his real passion is teaching and that his legacy is not a truly memorable piece of music, but the generations of young people whose lives he affects.  DVD 5100

The paper chase. 2003. 1 videodisc (112 min.). A moving story of a first-year Harvard Law School student who comes to terms with his dreams in America's most competitive school. Hart finds he must survive much more than the pressures, all-night cramming and insecurities he expected. He becomes fearful of a brilliant professor, who terrorizes some, inspires others and who easily separates the men from the boys. DVD 4377

Pay it forward. 2000. 1 videodisc (123 min.). When a young man starts "paying it forward" for a social studies project, unusual things happen in this bittersweet and uplifting tale. DVD 1073

Renaissance man. 2000. 1 videodisc (128 min.). An unemployed advertising executive takes a job teaching Army recruits English. DVD 1529

School of rock. Widescreen DVD collection. 2004. 1 videodisc (109 min.). When his band votes him out due to his embarrassing musical antics, Dewey has to make the rent somehow. After intercepting a call for his substitute-teacher roomie Ned, Dewey finds himself in front of a class of elite elementary school students. Dewey decides to take on the music program and makes it his goal to teach them the gospel of rock and roll. His ulterior motive is to get them to compete against his former band for a cash prize. DVD 838

Stand and deliver. 1998. 1 videodisc (103 min.). Story of Jaime Escalante, a math teacher at East Los Angeles' Garfield High School, who pushes and inspires 18 inner-city Hispanic students who were struggling with math to become math whizzes.

To sir, with love. Columbia classics collection. 1999. 1 videodisc (ca. 105 min.). A teacher in England abandons the traditional curriculum of education in dealing with a class of students rejected by other schools. DVD 914

Wonder boys. Widescreen DVD collection. 2000. 1 videodisc (112 min.). During a single weekend, college professor Grady Tripp scrambles to gather together a life that has suddenly reeled out of control. An unfinished novel, a stolen car, a murdered pet and a failing marriage are just a few of the crises piling up. DVD 348