Schools Screenings 2018
Cork Film Festival presented a selection of IFI Education titles as part of its expanding Schools Programme in 2018. These specially selected eight titles supported school curricula across Junior Cycle and Senior Cycle in French, German and Spanish, as well as Transition Year.
In 2018, the Festival expanded its partnership with The Gate Cinema to offer our Schools Programme in Mallow and Midleton, as well as Cork city.
Study Guides are available for our foreign language titles – please see the information section on each film below to view the study guides.
Junior Cycle: French
Miss Impossible (Jamais Contente)
Emilie Deleuze / France / 2016 / 90 mins / Subtitled
This fresh coming-of-age drama centres on thirteen-year-old Aurore, trying to find a sense of belonging in the world stuck between a beautiful older sister and a brainy younger one. Léna Magnien excels as the prickly teen, rebellious and full of smart answers. Her parents threaten boarding school, but an empathetic teacher and an offer to join a band give her new possibilities. The band’s friendship helps her open up, realise her own talent and prompts her family to see her in a different light.
Senior Cycle German
The Silent Revolution (Das Schweigende Klassenzimmer)
Lars Kraumer / Germany / 2018 / 98 mins / Subtitled
Based on true events, Silent Revolution is a captivating Cold War-era drama told from the perspective of two East German high school students. It’s 1956 and during a visit to West Berlin, Theo and Kurt witness dramatic footage of the Budapest uprising. Back at school in Stalinstadt they spontaneously stage a silent protest in class. Set during the Soviet occupation of East Germany, the film highlights the stifling grip that the authorities maintained in the region and the impact on those living there.
Senior Cycle: French
Keeper
Recommended Age: 15A
Guillaume Senez / Belgium, Switzerland, France / 2015 / 111 mins / Subtitled
This year’s French film choice for schools is the sensitive, realistic story of Maxime and Mélanie, a teen couple in love. Maxime is a talented footballer and likely to be selected for trials. Life is good but when Mélanie becomes pregnant, their worlds are rocked. Their parents’ responses are very different, and as the pair try to decide what to do, they feel pressure coming at them from all sides. An honest and heartfelt drama about young people thrust into adulthood, it poses rich questions for discussion such as ‘who am I’, ‘how do I make decisions’, and ‘who do I want to be?’
Junior Cycle: Spanish
Hero Steps (Pasos de Heroe)
Henry Rincón / Colombia / 2016 / 91 mins / Subtitled
Ten-year-old Eduardo has more than his share of challenges: he is a poor victim of Colombia’s armed conflict, has lost a limb in a landmine explosion and, now, must negotiate life in a children’s home. However, not one to be deterred, Eduardo sets his sights on participating in a children’s soccer tournament. With the help of his music teacher and some dedicated friends, Eduardo manages to mobilise a team.
Senior Cycle: Spanish
The Chess Player (El jugador de ajedrez)
Luis Oliveros / Spain / 2017 / 91 mins / Subtitled
It is 1934 in Madrid, and champion chess player Diego (Marc Clotet) falls for a French journalist and starts a family. When the political landscape around them grows more threatening under Franco, the three make for Paris, only to find themselves in the midst of Nazi occupation years later. When Diego becomes falsely imprisoned, he must use chess to earn the trust of his cruel captor.
The Chess Player tells a humanistic story of an ordinary man caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and offers students a Spanish perspective on this turbulent era of European history.
Transition Year/ Senior Cycle History
Black ’47
Recommended Age: 15A
Lance Daly / Ireland, Luxembourg / 2018 / 96 mins
An Irish ranger (James Frecheville) flees the British army in 1847 to return home to the west of Ireland, only to find his family dead or starving in the midst of the Great Famine, so he sets out to seek revenge. Cleverly set against the backdrop of Irish history, this boldly told thriller boasts gripping set pieces and an impressive Irish cast including Barry Keoghan, Stephen Rea and Jim Broadbent. Sure to provoke discussion amongst students about portraying Irish history on screen.
Junior Cycle: German
Mountain Miracle (Amelie Rennt)
Recommended Age: 12A
Tobias Wieman / Germany / 2017 / 97 mins / Subtitled
Suffering from asthma, 13-year-old Amelie is sent for treatment to a remote clinic in South Tyrol, Austria. Stubbornly refusing to participate in the programme, she runs away into the beautiful landscape that surrounds the clinic, hoping to find some freedom. While hiding she meets local boy Bart. Hoping for a cure they embark on a courageous adventure in search of a mountain miracle. What follows is a story of unlikely friendship and a young girl’s struggle for autonomy.
Transition Year
Michael Inside
Recommended Age: 15A
Frank Berry / Ireland / 2017 / 96 mins
Director Frank Berry followed his searing debut, I Used to Live Here, with this exceptional drama starring Dafhyd Flynn as the young 18-year-old man who gets caught holding drugs and must serve a prison sentence. There he becomes an easy target for kingpin David (Moe Dunford) as he learns the hard way how the system inside works. Drawing on his extensive research in prisons and rehabilitation programmes, Berry achieves a gripping plot which draws on questions of recidivism, justice, friendship and control.
The screening will include a video introduction from the film’s director Frank Berry.
