Classroom to Screening Room
Take your students to the movies! Classroom to Screening Room is our Education Screening Field Trip program, Virtual or In-Person, with live post-screening discussions led by JBFC Educators.
Our carefully curated film library features an inclusive collection of stories from across the USA and around the world. These animated, documentary, and narrative films invite students to engage with new cultures and build empathy through incredible characters and personal stories.
Our post-screening discussions are moderated by film educators who facilitate a safe, thoughtful, and lively conversation that follows student curiosity and focuses on film techniques, story structure, character development, themes, historical background, and emotional engagement.
Virtual or In-Person experiences are $10/student or FREE for under-resourced schools.
Step One: Explore Our Film Library
Explore our curated film list below to select the title that best connects with your students. Choose a film by genre, theme, age recommendation, rating, and/or language for your students to view. Please be sure to check out our content advisory which includes a link to Common Sense Media to help you determine which film is a good fit for your students.
Ireland
Animation. 2014. 93 min. English. PG.
Recommended Age: 7+
More Information
USA
Documentary. 2012. 101 min. English. PG.
Recommended Age: 8+
More Information
Paraguay
Documentary. 2015. 84 min. Spanish with English subtitles. PG.
Recommended Age: 10+
More Information
USA
2021. 98 min. HBO Documentary Films. English and Arabic with subtitles. NR.
Grade Level: High School
Epic in scope, but intimate in feel, Simple as Water is a meditation on the elemental bonds between parent and child from Academy Award-winner Megan Mylan (Lost Boys of Sudan, Smile Pinki.) A masterful look at the impact of war, separation and displacement, Simple as Water takes us into Syrian families’ quests for normalcy and through the whirlwind of obstacles—to building life anew. Filmed in Turkey, Greece, Germany, Syria, and the US, Mylan’s sensitive camera reifies the universal importance of family.
Registration Closed
Step Two: Register
Choose either a Virtual or In-Person experience and fill out the accompanied registration form to sign up for a screening. Select the day of the week that works best for you and your class. We will be in touch to confirm the date. For In-Person experiences, please be sure to read our Classroom to Screening Room: In-Person Screening Information for Schools page before registering.
Virtual Experience
Can’t come in person, no problem! To increase accessibility, we are offering virtual film screening experiences for students and teachers. The minimum number of students that may attend a virtual experience is 20 and the maximum is 75.
In-Person Experience
Let’s go to the movies! Bring your students for an in-person experience to our art house movie theater in Pleasantville, New York to watch and discuss a film. The minimum number of students per experience is 40 and the maximum is 249 (full capacity including chaperones). The JBFC will cover the cost of one bus per experience for under-resourced schools, up to a maximum of two per academic year. If your in-person experience will include more than one visit, we ask that no less than 75 students attend each visit.
Includes:
- An Intro video to introduce key concepts and questions before the film screening
- A Viewing Guide to both prepare students to be active viewers and support teachers with activities they can bring back to the classroom
- A password-protected Link to the Film for students to either watch at school or remotely from home 24 hours before the film discussion
- A Post-Screening Discussion with students on Zoom (45min–1hr) facilitated by a JBFC Film Educator
- Start time: 10:30am
Includes:
- An Introduction to the film
- A Screening in our state of the art movie theater
- A Post-Screening Discussion led by a JBFC Film Educator
- A Viewing Guide to both prepare students to be active viewers and support teachers with activities they can bring back to the classroom
- Start time: 9:30am
- Please visit our Classroom to Screening Room: In-Person Screening Information for Schools page before registering.
