LESSONS: Contemporary Films From China - The Film Foundation PDFs (6-12)

Melissa's post got me thinking...

The folks at the Film Foundation (run by Martin Scorsese) presented at last year's Teach, Think, Play conference in NYC.

MC Popper CATHERINE GOULEY an award-winning author of books for young adults and curriculum writer for The Story of Movies educational outreach program presented on some international film curricula she developed for middle school students. The film she highlighted was a moving Chinese film called The King Of Masks. If you get a chance to write her ask her HOW they selected the films. It is an interesting story.

You can read what students said about her presentation at the TTP Reflection Gallery!

Here are links to the resources at the Film Foundation website:

An Introduction to Contemporary Chinese Film

Featured film lessons:

The King of Masks (Recommended for students in grades 5 – 8)
Teacher’s Guide (PDF)
Student Activity Booklet (PDF)
Beijing Bicycle (Recommended for students in grades 7 – 12)
Teacher’s Guide (PDF)
Student Activity Booklet (PDF)
Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (Recommended for students in grades 9 - 12)
Teacher’s Guide (PDF)
Student Activity Booklet (PDF)

Teachers will need a DVD copy of the film(s) to be studied, to correspond with the written lesson material. All of the films can be rented or purchased for use in the classroom.

Although these films are quite different in content and cinematic style, each reflects China’s changing society. The Film Foundation and its and its Chinese partners selected these films based on the following criteria: age-appropriate content, excellence in filmmaking, and educational value.

This unit is intended as an introduction only and not as an in-depth study of China or China’s rich film heritage. Each lesson has multiple activities that can be taught over 3 – 5 days. The lessons are interdisciplinary in approach, both reinforcing and challenging students’ knowledge of literature, history, geography, art and music.