“Film as a Site for Education and Resistance” links education to film and film to the English classroom.  It relies on the creative analysis laid out in Alain Bergala’s  The Cinema Hypothesis to engage students in watching and discussing films that speak to and challenge them, and ultimately in encouraging their own small acts of filmmaking, where they will encounter and deal with the resistance and possibilities that space offers during a shoot.  This unit is rich in resources and questions that guide students through analyzing and interpreting poetic images in film. Students are invited to study “film as film” and film as a meaning-maker. There is a push and pull between film and education in this unit, for students will collectively debate and compose educational theory in response to their experiences with freedom and discipline in both the classroom and in front of the screen. This will involve their shared film experiences, as well as a day of curated research involving a spectrum of educational thinkers.

(Developed for AP Literature, grade 12; recommended for English, grades 9-12)