2025 Schools at Doc Stories runs Nov 6–10, 2025
SFFILM’s Schools at Doc Stories program is a vital connection between the annual Doc Stories film festival and the local educational community, providing students of all ages the opportunity to experience documentaries from around the world. The Schools at Doc Stories program introduces students ages 6 to 18 to the art and process of nonfiction film and filmmaking while promoting media literacy, deepening insights into other cultures, enhancing foreign language aptitude, developing critical thinking skills, and inspiring a lifelong appreciation of cinema.
Contact Director of Education Keith Zwölfer at 415-561-5040 or kzwolfer@Sffilm.org with questions about our current SADS program and to find out how to get your kids involved.
2025 Schools at Doc Stories Program Guide PDF
2025 Schools at Doc Stories Program Guide
SCHOOLS AT DOC STORIES IN-PERSON PROGRAMS
BLUE SCUTI: Tetris Crasher
(Chris Moukarbel, USA/France 2025, 76 min)
THU NOV 6 12:30 pm–2:15 pm PT | SFMOMA
In December 2023, thirteen-year-old Willis Gibson, known to fellow gamers as Blue Scuti, did something that no other human has ever done—beat the 40-year-old game Tetris while live-streaming from his bedroom in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Then his life changed overnight. In this poignant, family-driven coming-of-age story, Willis Gibson navigates an exciting new world competing with the best in the world, while coping with the grief over the recent loss of his father. This heartwarming yet thrilling documentary showcases the love and skill of Tetris across generations while uncovering the camaraderie, friendship, and community that is the bedrock of the historic game today.
Suggested Subjects: Computer Science, Mental Health, Peer/Youth Issues, Social Studies, Sports/Physical Education
Recommended Grades: 4–12
Program Note: This film contains brief profanity.
Subjects of the film Willis Gibson and AlexT are expected to attend.
The Eyes of Ghana
(Ben Proudfoot, Moses Bwayo, USA 2025, 90 min)
In English, Twi and Ga with English Subtitles
FRI NOV 7 12:15 pm–2:15 pm PT | SFMOMA
Two-time Academy Award-winner Ben Proudfoot and frequent SFFILM Education guest returns to Doc Stories with his feature debut, which tells the enchanting story of Ghanaian documentarian Chris Hesse. At 93 years old, Chris Hesse reflects back on the early days of his career as a personal cinematographer for former Ghanaian president and revolutionary Kwame Nkrumah. Hesse‘s proximity to Kwame Nkrumah allowed him to serve as keen witness and documentarian of what became the genesis of the African independence movement of the 1950s and ’60s, a watershed period in African history that resisted colonial rule. With his memories and vision fading, Hesse teams up with a new generation of African filmmakers to repatriate a treasure trove of films thought to have been destroyed in the coup that put an end to Kwame Nkrumah’s reign. Produced by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama and Moses Bwayo this inspirational journey to reclaim lost histories and cultural memories gives hope for future generations.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, African Studies, Art/Media, English Language Arts, Film History, History, World Studies
Recommended Grades: 6–12
Program Note: This film contains brief nudity in archival footage.
Director Ben Proudfoot is expected to attend.
A Life Illuminated
(Tasha Van Zandt, USA 2025, 89 min)
MON NOV 10 10 am–12 pm PT | SFMOMA
Tasha Van Zandt returns to SFFILM (After Antarctica, Festival 2021), with a luminous profile of the pioneering and trailblazing female marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder and together they take audiences on a thrilling deep-sea mission. Fueled by a cinematic and scientific determination to capture bioluminescent life as it has never been filmed before, this visually stunning film is a breathless adventure. Blending archival footage with present-day expeditions, the film offers a rare glimpse into the ocean’s glowing ecosystems while tracing Dr. Edie Widder‘s personal and professional journey. More than a portrait of a scientist, A Life Illuminated is a meditation on curiosity, perseverance, and the power of seeing what has long been hidden. It’s a dazzling exploration of life at the edges of human knowledge—and a reminder of the wonders that still wait in the dark.
Suggested Subjects: Art/Media, Career Path Training, Engineering, Marine Biology, Science, Women and Gender Studies
Recommended Grades: 5–12
Program Note: This film contains brief profanity.
Director Tasha Van Zandt and Dr. Edie Widder are expected to attend.
Remaining Native
(Paige Bethmann, USA 2025, 87 min)
MON NOV 10 12:30 pm–2:30 pm PT | SFMOMA
This compelling coming-of-age documentary follows Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old runner living on the Yerington Paiute reservation in Northwest Nevada. He dreams of being recruited to his dream school, the University of Oregon, but his biggest hurdle is that he is the only runner at his high school, and there is no coach. As Ku Stevens trains harder and harder, using the desert as his race track, it unearths the emotional memory of his great-grandfather, Frank Quinn. At 8 years old, Frank Quinn ran 50 miles across the desert to escape an Indian boarding school. Frank Quinn’s story and history itself become interwoven with Ku Stevens‘s journey to run a collegiate qualifying time. From first-time feature filmmaker and Haudenosaunee woman Paige Bethmann, this powerful documentary shows how activism and Indigenous sovereignty can take many shapes.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, Indigenous Studies, Journalism, Mental Health, Peer/Youth Issues, Social Studies, Sports/Physical Education, U.S History
Recommended Grades: 6–12
Program Note: This film contains brief profanity and mentions of historical violence.
Director Paige Bethmann and Producer Jessica Epstein are expected to attend.
Runa Simi
(Augusto Zegarra, Peru 2025, 81 min)
In Spanish, Quechua, and English with English Subtitles
THU NOV 6 10 am–12 pm PT | SFMOMA
Augusto Zegarra’s tender and spirited debut feature, Runa Simi, follows Peruvian single father Fernando and his son Dylan, whose shared love for voice acting — translating from Spanish into Quechua, their indigenous language — becomes an unexpectedly powerful cultural mission. What begins as a playful bonding activity, dubbing beloved animated and blockbuster films into Quechua, soon blossoms into a viral sensation and a deeply personal journey: to reimagine The Lion King entirely in their mother tongue. With warmth, humor, and emotional clarity, Augusto Zegarra crafts a vibrant portrait of fatherhood, language preservation, and creative resilience. More than a film about dubbing, Runa Simi is a stirring testament to the everyday heroes who keep Indigenous culture alive—one voice at a time.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, Art/Media, Career Path Training, Drama/Acting, English Language Arts, Indigenous Studies, Latin American Studies, Music, Spanish
Recommended Grades: 4–12
Program Note: This film contains brief profanity.
Director Augusto Zegarra and subject of the film Fernando are expected to attend virtually.
Spreadsheet Champions
(Kristina Kraskov, Australia 2025, 86 min)
In English, French, Greek, Spanish, Vietnamese with English Subtitles
FRI NOV 7 10 am–12 pm PT | VOGUE
With the thrill of a sports finale and the warmth of a coming-of-age tale, Spreadsheet Champions invites the audience to follow six ambitious students from around the world as they compete in the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships. From De La Paix, a determined university student in Cameroon hoping to make his family proud, to Carmina, a bubbly 16-year-old from Guatemala who finds refuge in math, each competitor brings their own hopes, dreams, and struggles along with them to the competition.
Suggested Subjects: Career Path Training, Coming of Age, Computer Science, Journalism, Math, Peer/Youth Issues, Statistics, World Studies
Recommended Grades: 4–12
Subject of the film Mason is expected to attend.
James Robinson: Adapt-Ability & More Shorts
Program Runtime: 75 min
FRI NOV 7 10 am–11:15 pm PT | SFMOMA
James Robinson is on a mission to help the world better understand disability by using his skills as a gifted storyteller. He is already well on his way to accomplishing his goal, achieving success as an Emmy-award winning filmmaker, a video producer for the New York Times Opinion, and the best-selling author of the recent children’s book Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen. Through sharing his own personal experiences as well as the stories of others, James explores how it feels to live with a disability and the ways in which society can adjust to be more inclusive of people with disabilities. This program is intended to allow students a safe space to empathize with their peers as well as celebrate something about themselves that the world might consider “different.” Besides James’ Adapt-Ability shorts, this program will feature these additional titles, The Bird Catchers and Happy Hundy Jimmy Carter, where he explores other fascinating topics.
Through sharing his own personal experiences as well as the stories of others, James explores how it feels to live with a disability and the ways in which society can adjust to be more inclusive of people with disabilities. This program is intended to allow students a safe space to empathize with their peers as well as celebrate something about themselves that the world might consider “different.” Besides James’ Adapt-Ability shorts, this program will feature these additional titles, The Bird Catchers and Happy Hundy Jimmy Carter, where he explores other fascinating topics.
*Titles are listed alphabetically rather than in order of play.
How Life Looks Through My ‘Whale Eyes’
(Directed by James Robinson, USA 2021, 12 min)
In this personal visual essay, James shows what it feels like to live with several disabling eye conditions that have defied an array of treatments and caused him countless humiliations. Using playful graphics and enlisting his family as subjects in a series of optical tests, he invites others to view the world through his eyes.
I’m Going Blind. This Is What I Want You to See.
(Directed by James Robinson, USA 2022, 8 min)
Yvonne Shortt is legally blind. But unlike the stereotype of the blind living in a lightless world, Ms. Shortt, like most other legally blind people, lives a nuanced existence between those who see well and those who can’t see a thing. Through creative visual techniques, we learn how Ms. Shortt navigates her world with progressively declining eyesight but also recognize what she has gained even as she has lost something so precious.
I Stutter
(Directed by James Robinson, USA 2022, 8 min)
John Hendrickson has stuttered nearly his entire life. He explores the obstacles and emotional burden of his condition and explains the coping strategies and workarounds he has devised to make it through the day in a world that demands that we speak up and speak clearly. The film suggests that the problem may lie not with people who stutter but with a society that is largely unprepared or disinclined to accommodate them.
What It’s Like to Have Faceblindness
(Directed by James Robinson, USA 2022, 8 min)
Have you ever run into someone in your day-to-day life and you suspect you’ve met them before, and they seem to know you, but you can’t quite place them? Paul Kram has a condition called prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, a neurological disorder that inhibits the recognition of faces and has resulted in him coming up with techniques and strategies to manage how he experiences social interactions and makes human connections.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, Art/Media, Disability Studies, English Language Arts, Journalism, Psychology, Science, Social Studies
Recommended Grades: 3–12
Director James Robinson is expected to attend.
SCHOOLS AT DOC STORIES ONLINE PROGRAMS
Making Waves: The Rise of Asian America
(Jon Osaki, Josh Chuck, USA 2024, 58 min)
Pre-recorded Q&A with registration
In this urgent and deeply resonant documentary, Making Waves: The Rise of Asian America traces the powerful legacy of Asian American activism through the lens of ethnic studies — from the 1968 student strikes in California to the present-day fight against anti-Asian hate. Opening with a group of passionate youth advocating for Asian American Studies in the Texas state capitol, the film travels across regions and decades to uncover the transformative impact of ethnic studies on identity, representation, and political power. Through educators, experts, and a rising generation of student activists, Making Waves builds a compelling case for education as resistance. With clarity, compassion, and a strong intergenerational focus, the film amplifies the ongoing struggle to define Asian American identity on its own terms.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, Asian American Studies, Current/World Events, Education, Journalism, Local/Bay Area Interest, Political Science, Social Justice, Sociology
Recommended Grades: 4–12
Program Note: This film contains brief news footage of racially motivated violence.
Niñxs
(Kani Lapuerta, Mexico/Germany 2025, 86 min)
In Spanish with English Subtitles
Pre-recorded Q&A with registration
In the magical town of Tepoztlán, Mexico, fifteen-year-old Karla intimately and unabashedly guides audiences in her journey for self-discovery as she navigates the joys and uncertainties of adolescence, alongside society’s gender prejudices. Over the course of 8 years, we watch Karla grow up from late childhood into her teenage years, from experimenting with makeup, making TikToks in her room, to practicing for the cheer team. The director, Kani Lapuerta, co-authored the film with Karla, as she decides where the film takes viewers through her inner world full of imagination, supportive friendships, and her close-knit family. Through Karla’s exploration of her transgender identity, the film presents an empowering, yet sweet coming-of-age story about self-expression, resilience, and the complexities of growing up, that is as specific as it is universal.
Suggested Subjects: Art/Media, Coming of Age, Drama/Acting, Latin American Studies, LGBTQ+ Studies, Mental Health, Sociology, Spanish, Women and Gender Studies
Recommended Grades: 8–12
Program Note: This film contains profanity and comedic gore.
Spreadsheet Champions
(Kristina Kraskov, Australia 2025, 86 min)
In English, French, Greek, Spanish, Vietnamese with English Subtitles
Pre-recorded Q&A with registration
With the thrill of a sports finale and the warmth of a coming-of-age tale, Spreadsheet Champions invites the audience to follow six ambitious students from around the world as they compete in the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships. From De La Paix, a determined university student in Cameroon hoping to make his family proud, to Carmina, a bubbly 16-year-old from Guatemala who finds refuge in math, each competitor brings their own hopes, dreams, and struggles along with them to the competition. For these students, who have risen to become national champions, qualifying for the global event is nothing short of life-changing. Bringing with it the promise of scholarships, career opportunities, and the honor of representing their nations on the world stage. The film also offers a glimpse into the fascinating history of the spreadsheet itself, a tool that quietly revolutionized industries, from personal finance to space travel, making handling data accessible to all.
Suggested Subjects: Career Path Training, Coming of Age, Computer Science, Journalism, Math, Peer/Youth Issues, Statistics, World Studies
Recommended Grades: 4–12
The Tale of Silyan
(Tamara Kotevska, North Macedonia 2025, 81 min)
In Macedonian with English Subtitles
Pre-recorded Q&A with registration
From the co-director of the Oscar-nominated Honeyland comes this poetic story of family, land, and storks. In the countryside of North Macedonia, elderly farming couple Nicola and Jana are working on the second story of their home, hoping their extended family will return there from abroad. Falling crop prices and overall economic troubles make this unlikely, but hope persists. Woven into this dynamic is the titular myth involving an angry father who turns his son Silyan into a stork when the boy threatens to leave home. In the film, this folk tale takes on a lived dimension of absent family when Nicola rescues a wounded stork from a graveyard and builds the bird a nest on the in-progress landing of his own empty home. Director Tamara Kotevska seamlessly merges the allegorical and the quotidian to moving and visually spectacular effect.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, Art/Media, Biology, English Language Arts, European Studies, Social Studies, World Studies
Recommended Grades: 6–12
We Can Be Heroes
(Carina Mia Wong, Alex Simmons, USA 2024, 86 min)
Pre-recorded Q&A with registration
Sometimes, finding your people requires a bit of magic. For attendees of a live action role-playing (LARP) camp in upstate New York, the deeply accepting environment has given neurodivergent, queer, and self-proclaimed “nerdy” teenagers the space and community for self-discovery that they have never found anywhere else. As the campers immerse themselves in this imaginative world, they become enchanting fairies, powerful healers, paranoid villains, and overthrown queens. They discover inner strength, heal from past traumas, and emerge as the heroes they are meant to be, both in the fantasy realm and in real life. We Can Be Heroes perfectly and cinematically captures and celebrates the small, fleeting, but profoundly formative moments that make up the most intense years of adolescence, with a little help from foam swords.
Suggested Subjects: Art/Media, Drama/Acting, English Language Arts, Mental Health, Peer/Youth Issues, Sports/Physical Education
Recommended Grades: 4–12
Program Note: This program contains brief profanity.
Shorts Block: Small Acts, Strong Currents
Total Running Time: 71 min
Pre-recorded Q&A with registration
Across continents and generations, these five short documentaries echo with personal memory, political resistance, and the quiet power of everyday life. Blending archival, observational, and poetic storytelling, this shorts program examines the lines between body and nation, solitude and collectivity, intimacy and ideology. From Gaza’s resilient fishermen to the focused intensity of aspiring Olympians mid-dive, each film reveals how individuals navigate the weight of larger systems: war, occupation, cultural identity, and collective struggle. Shorts Block: Small Acts, Strong Currents offers a comprehensive portrait of life caught in motion—physical, historical, and emotional.
*Titles are listed alphabetically rather than in order of play.
Also Resisters
(Directed by Christina D. Bartson, USA/UK 2025, 13 min)
Lyrical and prophetic, this archival film draws on the writing of American pacifist David McReynolds to trace the development of American militarism and antiwar resistance from the late 20th century to the present.
Divers
(Directed by Geordie Wood, USA 2025, 7 min)
This mesmerizing presentation of high-divers is an ode to the human body in motion.
Free Fish
(Directed by Bisan Owda, Palestine/Portugal 2025, 23 min)
In Arabic with English Subtitles
Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda documents the daily life of fishermen on the besieged shores of the Gaza Strip, home to 4,500 fishermen.
Hoops, Hopes & Dreams
(Directed by Glenn Kaino, USA 2025, 20 min)
The Black civil rights struggle from Martin Luther King Jr. to Barack Obama’s historic presidency amassed community and power from an unlikely common denominator between the people and political leaders: basketball.
S the Wolf
(Directed by Sameh Alaa, France/Egypt 2025, 11 min)
In Arabic with English Subtitles
Sameh Alaa recounts adolescent lessons in masculinity, vanity, and family in an animated odyssey of hair growth and loss.
Suggested Subjects: Activism, Animation, Arabic, Art/Media, Black Studies, Coming of Age, Current/World Events, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Sports/Physical Education, U.S History
Recommended Grades: 6–12
Program Note: This program contains brief political violence.
