Filmfest DC 2025
Teaching for Change is partnering with Filmfest DC: The Washington, D.C. International Film Festival for a 14th year to bring films and filmmakers into D.C. classrooms. Students gain valuable insights from viewing the documentaries, preparing questions, and discussing the film with the visitors.
Filmfest DC is offering a limited number of opportunities for filmmakers to visit a class after the class has viewed their film April 24–May 2.
Please note that while most Teaching for Change programs are for the D.C. metro area, the funding for these visits is limited to schools located in the District of Columbia. Film formats (streaming from YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) for classroom screening may vary.
The deadline to request a filmmaker visit was Sunday, March 30.
Films
Anacostia Portraits
Directed by Yev K'banchik and Elena Volkova
Runtime: 17 Min
A documentary exploring the vibrant, evolving community of Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood through 19th-century tintype photography. Photographer Elena Volkova revives the historic wet plate collodion process to create one-of-a-kind portraits that capture both the personal and collective histories of the neighborhood's residents. Each portrait session is participatory, where individuals connected to Anacostia are invited to sit for photographs, allowing their stories to unfold during the slow, deliberate process of creating a tintype.
The film delves into Anacostia's layered history — once a Native American settlement, later a center of African American culture, and now a neighborhood grappling with the effects of gentrification. The diverse groups of participants in Anacostia Portraits include lifelong residents, those who grew up and moved away, and newcomers who are building businesses and creating art in the area. As the subjects reflect on their personal journeys, the film sparks a broader conversation about community, identity, and how we define ourselves in a rapidly changing world. This visual archive, which includes over one hundred portraits, becomes a powerful meditation on how individuals and communities navigate transformation while preserving the essence of who they are.
Back to the Sky
Directed by Amin El Siwi
Runtime: 13 Min
Back to the Sky delves into the extraordinary journey of Suzanne Shoemaker, a dedicated licensed falconer whose passion for raptors has reshaped her life and home. In suburban Maryland, Suzanne transferred her basement and backyard into a thriving sanctuary for injured and displaced birds of prey.
Black Printmakers of Washington DC Percy B. Martin & Michael B. Platt
Directed by Susan J. Goldman
Runtime: 26 Min
Washington, D.C., has a rich history of Black owned printmaking workshops where artists thrived and formed community. Before the 1970's, Black artists had few opportunities to own their own studios, and showcase their art. Percy Martin and Michael Platt's story is part of a larger history. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 expanded the number of Black owned businesses. Martin, founded WD Printmaking workshop in 1972. Platt established Platt Studios in 1989. These studios embraced a steady flow of emerging and established Black artists who were denied access to the city’s galleries, museums and universities, Percy and Michael offered places where Black artists formed community, shared ideas, exhibited their work and made prints. Percy and Michael, were both teachers; Percy at Sidwell Friends, and Michael at Howard University and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in Alexandria, VA.
Platt's work focuses on the criminal justice system, slavery, hurricane Katrina, and genocide. Michael collaborating with his wife poet, Carol Beane, created large scale digital print installations and artists books, blending image and text. Percy uses traditional intaglio with computer-generated images to produce large-scale etchings of "The Bushman", his personal narrative of science fiction combined with African mythologies.
Counted Out
Directed by Vicki H. Abeles
Run Time: 90 min (30 Min clip for classroom)
Virtually every major public issue — from healthcare to social security, from international economics to welfare reform — depends on data, projections, and the systematic thinking at the heart of quantitative literacy. Yet, only 25% of high school graduates are proficient in math.
Because math is still being taught like there is only one right answer and either you get it or you don’t, we are locking students out of mathematical literacy. We are disenfranchising the future generation by limiting access to higher education, fulfilling careers, and civic participation. And the effects of this fall hardest on those who have already suffered under systemic racism, patriarchy, and the cycle of poverty.
In a mosaic of stories, Counted Out shows us what’s at risk if we keep this status quo, and what’s possible if we change the way we approach math. We meet Glenn Rodriguez whose parole was blocked by an unfair algorithm and who got his freedom by crunching the numbers himself. We meet Civil Rights icon Bob Moses, who in some of the last film interviews of his life, shows us how leveling up the math playing field is key to an open democracy. We also meet students overcoming the stigma of being labeled “not a math person” and innovators forging paradigm shifts to make math accessible to all.
Counted Out sounds an alarm on how the future of our democracy depends on all of us speaking the language of math.
Forward Is a Pace
Directed by Alison Klayman
Runtime: 20 Min
Five runners from across the United States prepare for the first ever Every Woman's Marathon. The film explores the myriad themes which drive these women to run for their health, their families, their rights. These personal narratives are set against the thrilling and kinetic backdrop of the race, captured with unprecedented access to this kind of event.
The Last Republican
Directed by Steve Pink
Run Time: 88 min (30 Min clip for classroom)
Displaying an unwavering commitment to putting country over self, Republican Congressman from Illinois Adam Kinzinger sacrificed his career and personal relationships by publicly demanding accountability for Donald Trump's role in the January 6 insurrection. Filmed during Kinzinger's final year in Congress, The Last Republican reveals behind-the-scenes insights into the explosive January 6 committee hearings while delving into what drove him to take a stand as well as the lasting impact of his decision. Directed by Steve Pink, a fellow Illinoisan famous for the Hot Tub Time Machine movies.
The People’s Way
Directed by Ashley Tyner and William Tyner
Runtime: 75 Min (30 minute clip for classroom)
At the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, three community organizers — Jeanelle Austin, Toshira Garraway, and Robin Wonsley — embark on interweaving journeys after George Floyd’s murder to care for their communities, find inner healing and forge a path towards Black liberation.