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Films

Beowulf

A man stands in armour holding a sword
  • Relevance: KS3
  • Subjects: English, History
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: The legendary hero Beowulf battles the demon Grendel and the beast’s dangerously seductive mother

Boat That Rocked, The

A man holds a hanging microphone to his mouth in a radio studio
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE, KS3, KS4
  • Subjects: Film Studies, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: The Boat That Rocked is an ensemble comedy in which the romance takes place between the young people of the '60s and pop music.

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The

A young boy looks into the distance whilst swinging on a tyre
  • Relevance: GCSE, KS3
  • Subjects: Citizenship, English, History
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: Adaptation of John Boyne's novel about the forbidden friendship between an eight-year-old German boy and a Jewish concentration camp prisoner.

Bright Star

Medium close-up of a young man stood next to a wall, with hands pressed against it
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE, KS3, KS4
  • Subjects: English
  • Certificate: PG
  • Synopsis: Film based on the love affair between the Romantic poet John Keats and 18 year-old Fanny Brawne

Broken Embraces

A dark haired female actor poses behind a pair of hands holding a clapperboard
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE, Scottish Highers, KS4
  • Subjects: Film Studies, Media Studies, Spanish
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.

Class, The

A man stnds next to a window with a raised arm in the foreground
  • Relevance: AS, A2, Dip 1, Dip 2, Dip 3, GCSE
  • Subjects: Citizenship, French
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: François and his fellow teachers prepare for a new year at a high school in a tough neighbourhood. Armed with the best intentions, they brace themselves to not let discouragement stop them from trying to give the best education to their students. But his

Creation

A shot of a collection of drawings, fossils and notes scattered on a desk
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: Critical Thinking, General Studies, Religious Education, Science
  • Certificate: PG
  • Synopsis: Film based on the life of Charles Darwin and his struggle to complete his most controversial book, On the Origin of Species

Crude Awakening, A

An oil drum lies next to oily water with oil spilling out
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE, KS4
  • Subjects: Citizenship, English, Film Studies, Media Studies, Politics
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: Documentary about how the citizens of planet earth are sucking dry our most valuable and non-renewable natural resource: oil.

End Of The Line, The

A close up of a pile of dead fish
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE, KS3, KS4
  • Subjects: Citizenship, Geography, Science
  • Certificate: PG
  • Synopsis: A documentary that asks you to imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act.

Kite Runner, The

Two boys walk down a street, one carrying a large kite
  • Relevance: A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: Citizenship, English, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: Based on the acclaimed novel, The Kite Runner is the story of two childhood friends in Afghanistan and the consequences of one boy’s fearful act of betrayal.

Lives of Others, The

A man wearing headphones in a dark room listens intently
  • Relevance: A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: General Studies, German, History, Media Studies, Politics
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: The Lives of Others begins in East Berlin in 1984, five years before Glasnost and the fall of the Berlin Wall. A highly skilled officer who works for the Stasi, East Germany’s all-powerful secret police, is ordered to spy on a celebrated writer and his

Lovely Bones, The

A medium shot of a teenage girl stood outside, wearing a wooly hat
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: English, Film Studies
  • Certificate: PG
  • Synopsis: A 14-year-old girl from suburban Pennsylvania is murdered by her neighbour. She tells the story from Heaven

Me and Orson Welles

Two men face each other during a performance on a theatre stage
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: Drama, English, Film Studies, Media Studies, Theatre Studies
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: A teenage student lucks his way into a minor role in the legendary 1937 Mercury Theatre production of Julius Caesar, directed by a youthful Orson Welles. Over the course of a magical week, he makes his Broadway debut, finds romance with an ambitious older

Oliver Twist (2005)

A young boy runs down the street with people chasing him
  • Relevance: KS2
  • Subjects: History, Literacy
  • Certificate: PG
  • Synopsis: Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel.

Persepolis

Animated image of small child wearing a bandana marching in a living room, while dejected family members look on from chairs
  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: Art & Design, Citizenship, English, Film Studies, Media Studies, Politics
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: Poignant coming-of-age story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl that begins during the Islamic Revolution.

Sherlock Holmes

two handsome men in smart nineteenth century dress stand in the foreground facing the camera. The man to the left is hated and carries a cane over his right shoulder; the man to the right has his hands crossed over his waist. The detailed green-grey background features numerous items arranged around the characters including books, papers and bottles as well as a gun and a set of keys.
  • Relevance: GCSE, KS3, KS4
  • Subjects: English, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 12
  • Synopsis: New film interpretation of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous characters updated for a modern audience.

Shifty

Two men sit on the floor leaning against a dirty graffiti wall
  • Relevance: A2
  • Subjects: Citizenship, Film Studies, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: * Riz Ahmed takes the title role of Shifty, a thriller charting an action packed 24 hours in the life of a young crack cocaine dealer on the outskirts of London. The sudden return home of his best friend sets in motion a chain of events that see Shift

Skin

A girl in a school uniform smiles contentedly
  • Relevance: GCSE
  • Subjects: Citizenship, Film Studies, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Slumdog Millionaire

A boy and a man sit opposite each other in a game show television studio
  • Relevance: AS, A2, KS4
  • Subjects: Citizenship, English, Film Studies, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 15
  • Synopsis: An eighteen-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' Arrested on suspicion of cheating, he tells the police the incredible story of his life

Sounds Like Teen Spirit

Profile of a boy singing with a beam of light behind him
  • Relevance: GCSE, KS3
  • Subjects: Citizenship, Media Studies, Music
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: An affectionate and humorous documentary which follows the journey of 4 lovable losers from very different backgrounds and parts of the continent to the hugely popular Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Star Trek (2009)

  • Relevance: AS, A2, GCSE
  • Subjects: Film Studies, Media Studies
  • Certificate: 12A
  • Synopsis: A chronicle of the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members.

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