Film Education -

The Last Days

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at teachers of History, Media Studies, PSHE and Citizenship for Years 9 and above.
Certificate: PG
Synopsis: Five people, now living in America, recount their childhood memories as Hungarian Jews whose lives were changed forever when Germany invaded during World War II. The film charts their lives from deportation to the camps, to their final escape.

The Last Days study notes PDF

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of English at KS3
Certificate: 12A
Synopsis: Five people, now living in America, recount their childhood memories as Hungarian Jews whose lives were changed forever when Germany invaded during World War II. The film charts their lives from deportation to the camps, to their final escape.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas resource

Freedom Writers

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of English, Media and Film at Key Stages 3, 4 and AS & A2 level. Teachers of Citizenship, General Studies, History and Politics will also find them useful.
Certificate: 12
Synopsis: Freedom Writers is inspired by a true story and the diaries of real Long Beach teenagers after the L.A. riots.

Freedom Writers study guide

Focus On Citizenship

This 'Focus On' looks at the relationship between Citizenship and film. Film has the potential to reach a huge audience. The month’s focus considers the place of films that have brought to life conflicts and issues that can sometimes seem distant or abstract. Film Education is delighted to be joined by…

Film Focus resource

The Counterfeiters

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of Citizenship, History, German, Media/Film at GCSE, AS/A2, Intermediate and Highers.
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: It was the biggest counterfeit money scam of all time. Over 130 million pounds sterling were printed, under conditions that couldn’t have been more tragic or spectacular. During the last years of the war, as the German Reich saw that the end of the war was near, the authorities decided to produce their own banknotes in the currencies of their major war enemies...

The Counterfeiters study guide

Downfall

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of History, German, Film Studies at GCSE, AS/A2.
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: At the age of twenty-two, Traudl Junge became Hitler’s personal Secretary in 1942 staying with him throughout the war until the last days including the fall of Berlin and subsequent suicide of the Führer. The film, based on Junge’s own personal diaries, details these last desperate days in the bunker, as Russia’s Red Army closes in, with only a handful of Hitler’s close commanders, fanatical officers and staff remaining faithful. A deluded Hitler plans the final steps of the downfall by dictating his last will and testament and finally marrying Eva Braun prior to taking their own lives.

Downfall study guide

The Pianist

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of History, Film Studies at GCSE, A Level.
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: This is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman a brilliant Polish pianist, a Jew, who escapes deportation. Forced to live in the heart of the Warsaw ghetto, he shares the suffering, the humiliation and the struggles. He manages to escape and hides in the ruins of the capital, where a German officer comes to his aide and helps him survive.

The Pianist study guides: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Schindler’s List

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of History, Media Studies, Religious and General Studies at GCSE, A Level.
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: Oskar Schindler is a vain and greedy businessman who uses Jews to start a factory in Poland during World War II. However, He witnesses the persecution endured by the Jews and feels compelled to turn his factory into a refuge for them.

Schindler's List study guide

Shooting Dogs

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of English, Film & Media, Citizenship, History, Politics at GCSE, AS/A2.
Certificate: 15
Synopsis: In just one hundred spring days in 1984 a small African country was crippled by bloody genocide as their fellow Hutu countrymen massacred one million Rwandan Tutsis. The barbarity was beyond imagination, but not beyond prevention. The UN was there with a watching brief but not seemingly able to intervene. And at the heart of it all a British priest (John Hurt) and a young teacher were forced to confront the depths of their faith, the limits of their courage and, ultimately, to make a choice, or remain with their people or to run away.

Shooting Dogs study guides:
Historical Background, Colonialism

Hotel Rwanda

Relevance: The study guide is aimed at Teachers of PHSE, Citizenship, History, Media and Film Studies at KS3, GCSE
Certificate: 12A
Synopsis: Based on a remarkable true story of bravery in the face of terror, Hotel Rwanda tells the tale of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, with powerful connections in Rwandan society. His wife Tatiana is a Tutsi and when she urges Paul to use his influence to help her people who are being harassed and beaten with increasing frequency, it sets off a chain of events that culminates in Paul’s hotel becoming a haven for hundreds of Hutu’s during the genocide that gripped their country. The film traces the horrors of the Rwandan genocide while widening its focus to reveal the world’s indifference to the slaughter.

Hotel Rwanda study guide