Based on the actual events of a fatal police shooting, this movie drama tells the story of Oscar Grant’s last 24 hours – a young African American who was shot by the police during New Year’s Eve 2008/09. This movie might serve as a starting point for an interdisciplinary teaching project on #BlackLivesMatter.
Based on the musical of the same name, this tragicomedy movie on education, history, gender and hidden sexuality follows a group of British boys during their last year in school: Against all odds, they all have the potential to receive a place at a prestigious college, so their headmaster provides them with a very special […]
A drama movie about sports, stereotypes, belonging and loyalty: When two US-American high schools are forced to merge, their two football coaches – one black and one white – now need to work together. Because if these two cannot overcome their mutual prejudice, how are their players supposed to develop some team spirit of their […]
Throughout this sociocritical movie drama, Ricky, his wife and his children are struggeling with the financial crisis of 2008: With the promise of a safe income, Ricky is lured into buying a van. His plan is to deliver mail as a contractor. Soon, both his boss and this exploitative system is revealed for what they […]
In this film about racism, otherness and football culture following a true story, Michael Oher is a black orphan growing up in poverty. After making friends with another boy named Sean Jr., Sean Jr.’s parents decide to adopt Michael. While he does not excel academically, Michael’s protective instincts seem to be exceptionally developed, leading him […]
Following a true story, this legal drama movie portays lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson. Despite having many lucrative options after graduating from Harvard University, he instead founds the Equal Justice Initiative to defend people who have wrongfully been convicted. One of his most famous cases is the one of Johnny D., who has […]
This historical drama film is based on the 1982 novel by Thomas Keneally and based on true events. It tells the story of businessman Oskar Schindler, who worked to save more than a thousand Jews from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II. This film is suited for interdisciplinary teaching […]
In this verse novel about homelessness, friendship and the willingness to help, 16-year-old Billy runs away from his abusive father – he much rather lives in an old railroad carriage than at what used to be ‘home’. There he meets a man called Old Bill, an alcoholic, and Caitlin, a rich but deeply dissatisfied girl. […]
This movie drama (based on the novel Q and A) revolves around family, friendship and fate: Jamal grows up as a poor beggar in India but when he is 18 years old he finds himself as contestant in ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ nonetheless. Neither the show’s host nor the viewers can easily believe […]
A verse novel about the search for one’s own story, this one introduces the reader to 12-year-old Kasienka. Looking for her father, she and her mother migrated from Poland to England. Life, however, poses many challenges for Kasienka: bullying in school, living in a run down flat and having to share a bed with her […]
A young readers’ novel about family, friendship and gender roles. When Matthew’s cousin Sam comes over from the USA, he is not a likeable character: impolite, smelly and with long hair. So in order to join the local school boys’ gang, he has to accept and complete the challenge they set for him – come […]
In this realist novel about poverty, exploitation, human trafficking and ‘modern’ slavery, 13-year-old Lakshmi lives a poor but happy life with her family in rural Nepal. When a monsoon washes away her family’s remaining crops, she is forced to take on a job. When she is tricked into moving to the city, instead of prosperity […]
In this epistolary novel about family, migration and loss, a 12-year-old Jewish girl named Rifka documents her family’s escape from Russia in 1919 and their journey to the USA: how Rifka distracted guards by telling them stories, how she fell sick and needed to be treated in Belgium before they could go on and how […]
The comedic autobiography describes Trevor Noah’s childhood as a mixed-race child in South Africa during the apartheid era. Suited for interdisciplinary teaching, it can be used in connection to History class while discussing South African history. A possible introduction to the book could be to watch clips of Trevor Noah hosting the The Daily Show.
A gripping dystopian story about security, freedom, and the willingness to buy one with the other. Marcus is a 17-year-old tech-savvy student in San Francisco. When he is not breaking his school’s security measures, he spends his free time playing augmented reality games with his friends. It is not his fault that the police find […]
A story about the readiness to help, false suspicion and the American ‘war on terror’. This novel is based on the true story of Abdulrahman Zeitoun and his family: When hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, Abdulrahman was one of the few people who refused to leave. Traveling the sunken city by canoe, he rescues other […]
This historical graphic novel revolves around racism, civil disobedience and the Civil Rights movement in the USA: Rosa Parks is arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus and not moving to the section designated for black people, all of which will fuel the Civil Rights movement. This graphic […]