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A fun and meaningful forum for education, understanding and awareness, the San Francisco Film Society’s Education Program introduces students to the art of filmmaking and celebrates both the differences and the shared values of the many cultural groups that make up the global community. The program aims to develop media literacy, broaden insights into other cultures, enhance foreign language aptitude, develop critical thinking skills and inspire a lifelong appreciation of cinema. Through film screenings, media presentations, interactive discussions, filmmaker visits to schools, study guides and professional development, we strive to cultivate students’ imaginations, facilitate their awareness as filmgoers and empower them as true global citizens.

The education programs are designed to meet the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards for California public schools, providing key media resources for teaching artistic perception, creative expression, aesthetic valuing, historical and cultural dimensions of the arts, and the means for connecting and applying what is learned through film to other curricula and careers.

Since 1991, the SFFS Education Program has reached more than 30,000 Bay Area schoolchildren and 2,500 teachers from more than 500 educational institutions. In 2005, the program’s scope was significantly expanded to provide year-round film education programs, and that effort will continue to broaden and intensify each year with new opportunities and dozens of new and exciting film programs.

The Film Society is constantly establishing new partnerships with schools, cultural centers, sponsors, museums, innovators in the film industry and other nonprofit and arts organizations to support us in our educational objectives.

“I can’t think of a single screening we have attended that has not met a curriculum standard. I also can’t tell you the number of times that a film has been referenced in our discussions about U.S. and world history and politics. ‘Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.’”—a homeschool parent

View Education Program slide show

For more information
Keith Zwölfer
Education Program Manager
415-561-5040
kzwolfer@sffs.org

The San Francisco Film Society Education Program is made possible by the generous support of:

William Randolph Hearst Foundation
Tin Man Fund