The BFI is the lead body for film in the UK. We combine cultural, educational and industrial roles, bringing together the BFI Film Fund, film distribution, the BFI National Archive and the BFI Reuben Library. Established in 1935, the BFI Archive holds one of the largest film and television collections in the world. Our 5-19 education scheme is delivered by Into Film, an organisation providing a unified UK-wide film education scheme.
The BFI is the lead body for film in the UK. We combine cultural, educational and industrial roles, bringing together the BFI Film Fund, film distribution, the BFI National Archive and the BFI Reuben Library. Established in 1935, the BFI Archive holds one of the largest film and television collections in the world. Our 5-19 education scheme is delivered by Into Film, an organisation providing a unified UK-wide film education scheme.
A five-lesson scheme of work for Media Studies students at Key Stage 5 that looks at how the representation of black British life on TV has evolved since the 1960s to the present day. This scheme of work focuses on black representation on British TV from popular series like Desmond’s to lesser-known TV plays such as the provocative, Fable (1965). These lessons are designed for use with Media Studies students at Key Stage 5 and have the new 2016 specifications in mind.
Many of the works discussed are available to watch for free in BFI Mediatheques. Clips are also available as via BFI Screenonline, although due to our agreements with rightsholders, access to Screenonline’s moving image material is only permitted within UK schools, colleges, universities and public libraries that have already registered with us. We regret that we are no longer able to offer registration to new users.
Learning objectives include:
Understanding how black communities have been represented on television historically;
Applying this understanding in order to engage in productive debate;
Analysing key media texts critically;
Evaluating the social and political impact of representation of key groups within the media.
A lesson for Key Stage 4 PSHE and Citizenship students that explores the experiences of the 'Windrush Generation' using the film Concrete Garden (1994). Students work toward devising a short dramatic piece that relates to the themes and ideas brought up by the film.
Concrete Garden is a wonderfully observed graduation film from the black British director Alrick Riley. With warm performances from a young cast and exquisite detail in the production design, this tender short film powerfully evokes the trials and tribulations faced by kids settling in 1950s Britain.
The film is available to watch for free in BFI Mediatheques or can be rented on BFI Player for a small fee.
Learning objectives include:
Understanding more about immigration from the Commonwealth in the 1950s;
Investigating and considering what it could be like to be someone who has recently moved to the UK from abroad.
A lesson for Key Stage 4 PSHE and Citizenship students that explores black British culture and identity using the film Babylon (1980). Key scenes are used as impetus for class discussions on issues of race and racism in British society.
Set predominantly in South London, Babylon is a potent mix of music and social commentary, with an extraordinary ‘starry’ cast headed by actor-musician Brinsley Forde (Brinsley Dan) as ‘Blue’, the alienated young man at the heart of the story. Directed by Franco Rosso, this is a superb, truthful film that stands up over thirty years later.
The film is available on DVD and for free in BFI Mediatheques.
Learning objectives include:
Learning about some aspects of black British history from the 1980s;
Considering similarities and differences between race relations in the UK in the 1980s and modern day.
This five-lesson scheme of work for Key Stage 4 English examines the issue of racial inequality as depicted in the short film Ten Bob in Winter (1963) and the poetry of Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou.
Ten Bob in Winter is an energetic short film directed by the Jamaican writer and performer Lloyd Reckord. Shot on 16mm in black and white, the film is fresh and experimental yet still light and accessible.
Some of the learning objectives include:
Learning facts about racial inequality within British society;
Exploring the theme of racial inequality;
Using poetry as a way of understanding and empathising with this inequality.
A lesson that uses the film Grove Carnival (1983), about the Notting Hill carnival in London to consider whether attitudes toward race and black culture have shifted over time in Britain. A clip from Grove Carnival is available to watch on the BFI Youtube channel. The full film is available for free on BFI Player (http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-grove-carnival-1981/). This lesson is meant as a follow up to the Jemima + Johnny lesson (available as a separate download).
A lesson for primary students that explores attitudes toward race and equality and encourages discussion of students' own ideas around the topic, based around the film Jemima + Johnny (1966). The film is available to watch for free on BFI Player (http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-jemima-johnny-1966/).
In this lesson for key stage 2 DT, students watch the film Flash Gordon (1980) in order to start a discussion on what types of technologies appear in the film and other sci-fi films more generally. Students will then make a new technology for the scary, evil overlord Ming, working in groups to trial ideas and presenting their final idea to someone in role of Ming.
This lesson for key stage 4 biology uses the film The Glitterball (1977) to understand what it means for something to be alive according to 21st century biology.
In this lesson for key stage 2 English, students will the characterisation of its central character: the alien in The Glitterball (1977). Students will hypothesise ideas about the glitterball and eventually produce a short non-chronological report about the alien for the police.
Part two of a two-part music lesson for key stage 3 students in which students plan, compose and perform a score for the British silent sci-fi short, The ? Motorist (1906).
