Why these films?
Films that ask questions
These films do not come out of nowhere. Visionary filmmakers took on real problems, segregation, prejudice, poisoned water, the food on our plates, the price of art, the pain of growing up, often years before everyone else was talking about them.
Each film questions something about our world, and each one opens a sequence. On every card below, read the question first: it is the question the film asks you. Answer it before you watch, then answer it again at the end of the sequence.
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Sentence starters
- This film asks… / The question of this film is…
- I think the filmmaker chose this story because…
- Before watching, my answer is… Now my answer is… because…
Pour le professeur · introduire chaque film
Aucun film n’arrive de nulle part : chaque étude s’ouvre sur la question que pose le film (encadré « The question » de chaque carte). Lisez-la avec la classe avant tout visionnage, recueillez les premières réponses à l’aide des débuts de phrases, puis revenez-y en fin de séquence pour mesurer le chemin parcouru.
Guiding thread
Finding one’s place in the world
Sub-thread: giving and receiving. We can only give and receive from a place. Every study opens with a question about a character’s place and closes on what passes between the characters, trust, love, respect, meaning.
Visionary filmmakers have tackled these problems head-on for a long time, often years before they became mainstream. Every hook links a character’s place to what young people do today.
- Hidden Figures · Three Black women claim their place at NASA, in the room where decisions are made.
- Green Book · A pianist welcomed on stage but refused at the table searches for a place where he belongs.
- Crash · In a divided city, strangers collide and must find their place next to one another.
- Erin Brockovich · A single mother with no law degree makes her place in a law firm, and in a fight for a town.
- Promised Land · A salesman who left his farm roots must decide where he really stands.
- Food, Inc. · Farmers, workers and families try to keep their place in a food system run by a few giants.
- Super Size Me · One man tests his place in a fast-food world, with his body as the proof.
- Shakespeare in Love · A woman forbidden from the stage takes her place in the theatre; a young writer finds his voice.
- The Brutalist · A refugee architect builds a new life in America, and fights to keep his place as an equal.
- Lady Bird · A teenager who wants to leave her hometown discovers where she belongs.
- Little Women · A young writer in the 1860s fights to make her own way, and to own the story she writes.
Concept first
Each film study is built around a cultural concept · civil rights, environmental justice, Elizabethan theatre, the American Dream, coming of age. The film is either the starting point or the final task. Every study shows its concept at the top, two routes through the tabs, and a printable Film study sheet with a QR code.
Sentence starters
- The concept of… means…
- This film helps me understand… because…
1 · Civil rights & diversity
Concept: Segregation, civil rights and diversity
From the segregated offices of NASA in 1961 to the roads of the Deep South in 1962 and the streets of Los Angeles in 2004: how have Americans fought segregation, and what prejudices remain?
Open the theme: timeline, vocabulary, progression
Film study 1Hidden Figures
Theodore Melfi · 2016
Segregation & civil rights
Three Black women mathematicians help win the space race, while fighting segregation at work. The perfect entry point: inspiring, accessible, all audiences.
The questionWho gets written into the history of space exploration?
Why this film? In 1962, Katherine Johnson checked the orbital calculations for John Glenn’s flight, yet for decades the public hardly knew her name. The film puts three Black women mathematicians back into the story.
Film study 2Green Book
Peter Farrelly · 2018
Segregation & civil rights
A road trip through the Jim Crow South, a famous guidebook, and a debate about who tells the story.
The questionWho has the right to tell someone else’s story?
Why this film? From 1936 to the 1960s, the Green Book helped Black travellers find safe places to eat and sleep. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture, and the pianist Don Shirley’s family criticised the way it told his story.
Film study 3Crash
Paul Haggis · 2004
Prejudice, stereotypes & diversity
Our centrepiece: an Oscar-winning ensemble film about prejudice in a diverse city. Rich in film language, perfect for debate, and debated itself.
The questionWhat do our prejudices do to us, and to others?
Why this film? In less than two days in Los Angeles, strangers from very different backgrounds collide. It won the Oscar for Best Picture and is still debated: does it fight stereotypes, or repeat them?
For the teacher: age ratings
- Hidden Figures · PG · all audiences
- Green Book · PG-13 · trailer and context
- Crash · R · for 1re / Tle · trailer only
Ratings are the US MPA ratings. Full guidance: mode d’emploi professeur.
2 · Justice & the environment
Concept: Environmental justice
Water, land, food, bodies: four films ask who pays the price of progress, and how citizens, lawyers and filmmakers fight back.
Open the theme: timeline, vocabulary, progression
Film study 4Erin Brockovich
Steven Soderbergh · 2000
Environmental justice
Our centrepiece: a real case of groundwater pollution, a law firm, a $333 million settlement. Investigate, interview, negotiate, pitch.
The questionWho protects a town when its water is poisoned?
Why this film? A true story: chromium-6 leaked into the groundwater of Hinkley, California. In 1996, the energy company PG&E agreed to pay $333 million to hundreds of residents.
Film study 5Promised Land
Gus Van Sant · 2012
Environmental justice
A gas company, a farm town, a vote: fracking and the promise of wealth.
The questionWhat is a community ready to sell, and what should it never sell?
Why this film? A gas company offers money to a farm town in exchange for the right to drill. The film came out during the American fracking boom, when many rural towns faced exactly this choice.
Film study 6Food, Inc.
Robert Kenner · 2008
Environmental justice, the food system
A documentary from the farm to the supermarket: who controls our food?
With its sequel, Food, Inc. 2 (2023): then and now.
The questionWho really decides what is on our plate?
Why this film? From the cornfield to the supermarket, the documentary shows how a few big companies control much of the food system, and how Barbara Kowalcyk fought for safer food after losing her young son to E. coli.
Film study 7Super Size Me
Morgan Spurlock · 2004
Public health & consumer society
A famous fast-food experiment, and a lesson in how to judge evidence.
The questionCan one experiment prove what fast food does to us?
Why this film? For 30 days, Morgan Spurlock ate only McDonald’s food and filmed the effects on his body. Soon after the premiere, McDonald’s dropped its “Super Size” option, though the company denied any link. The film also teaches us to question evidence.
For the teacher: age ratings
- Erin Brockovich · R (language) · trailer and stills only
- Promised Land · R (language) · trailer and stills
- Food, Inc. · PG · documentary
- Food, Inc. 2 · UK 12A, US not rated · trailer and chosen extracts
- Super Size Me · PG-13 · documentary
Ratings are the US MPA ratings. Full guidance: mode d’emploi professeur.
3 · Creating & dreaming
Concept: Elizabethan theatre & the American Dream
A young playwright in 1593 London, a refugee architect in 1947 America: what does it take to create, and who pays for art?
Open the theme: timeline, vocabulary, progression
Film study 8Shakespeare in Love
John Madden · 1998
Elizabethan theatre
Elizabethan theatre, boy actors, censors and a queen: how Romeo and Juliet might have been born.
The questionWho is allowed on stage, and who is left in the wings?
Why this film? In 1593 London, women could not act on the public stage: boys played the female roles. The film imagines a young woman who breaks the rule, and a young Shakespeare looking for his voice.
Film study 9The Brutalist
Brady Corbet · 2024
The American Dream
A Holocaust survivor builds a monument for a rich patron: the American Dream and its price.
The questionWhat does the American Dream cost those who arrive with nothing?
Why this film? László Tóth is a fictional Hungarian-Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and reaches America in 1947. The role won Adrien Brody his second Oscar for Best Actor.
For the teacher: age ratings
- Shakespeare in Love · R · trailer, stills, synopsis only
- The Brutalist · R · trailer and stills only
Ratings are the US MPA ratings. Full guidance: mode d’emploi professeur.
4 · Growing up
Concept: Coming of age
A senior year in Sacramento, four sisters in Civil War Massachusetts: two Greta Gerwig heroines who want to write their own story. How do we become who we are?
Open the theme: timeline, vocabulary, progression
Film study 10Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig · 2017
Coming of age
A coming-of-age story about identity, a mother-daughter relationship, social class and college ambitions. We discuss the characters only.
The questionCan you find your place by leaving home?
Why this film? Sacramento, 2002: a senior who calls herself “Lady Bird” dreams of college in New York. Greta Gerwig, who grew up in Sacramento, wrote and directed this film, which received five Oscar nominations.
Film study 11Little Women
Greta Gerwig · 2019
Coming of age, owning your story
Four sisters, a war far away and a young writer who wants to earn her own living. A Gerwig pair with Lady Bird. All audiences (PG).
The questionCan a woman write her own story, and own it?
Why this film? Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women (1868 to 69) at Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts, after nursing soldiers in the Civil War. Gerwig’s film ends with Jo negotiating her copyright with her publisher; it received six Oscar nominations and won for Best Costume Design.
For the teacher: age ratings
- Lady Bird · R · trailer 0:00 to 1:20 only
- Little Women · PG · full trailer; the film can be screened
Ratings are the US MPA ratings. Full guidance: mode d’emploi professeur.
All printable sheets
- Film study sheet 1, Hidden Figures
- Film study sheet 2, Green Book
- Film study sheet 3, Crash
- Film study sheet 4, Erin Brockovich
- Film study sheet 5, Promised Land
- Film study sheet 6, Food, Inc.
- Film study sheet 7, Super Size Me
- Film study sheet 8, Shakespeare in Love
- Film study sheet 9, The Brutalist
- Film study sheet 10, Lady Bird
- Film study sheet 11, Little Women
Teachers: mode d’emploi professeur (FR)