Into Film Clubs
Find out everything you need to know about starting an Into Film Club.
Looking for thematic days to link to your lessons? Our termly Calendar Dates round-ups highlight the most significant days on the horizon, and provide useful links and resources to help you explore them using film in your classroom.
From a wide selection of film titles available to stream for free* with Into Film+, to brand new resources, delve into some key May, June and July dates below including Mental Health Awareness Week, Refugee Week, and Pride Month.
Below, we've covered the main dates coming up across the 2025 summer term to help you plan and structure your lessons ahead of the summer break. As always, the information and links below are an easy, at-a-glance way of knowing what's coming up, but we'll also be exploring many in more detail closer to the dates themselves.
May
National Share a Story Month
National Share a Story Month is an annual celebration of the power of storytelling and story sharing. This year's theme is Saving the World, One Book at a Time, which aims to celebrate both the joy of sharing stories and the importance of our local environment to our health and wellbeing.
Our Story Builder: Key Stage 3 resource supports engagement and learning across the curriculum through storytelling. Its workbook format allows you to engage with its sections as standalone activities to support individual learning areas, or as an in-depth project. Learners will explore, understand and create storytelling through their pre-existing knowledge of film and film language, comfortably navigating genre, character, setting and much more.
For younger learners, our Story Builder: Puffin Rock and the New Friends edition uses similar activities to celebrate the first full-length animation film made in Northern Ireland.
In addition, educators can take our Writing Fiction through Film and Visualising Stories online courses to learn how to better embed storytelling skills in lessons and unlock pupils' imaginations and creativity. And for those looking for great stories to enjoy that complement this year's theme, try Ken Loach's Kes or short archive film A Letter From Wales.
Deaf Awareness Week (5-11 May)
Deaf Awareness Week aims to help make everyday life more deaf-friendly for children and young people.
With Into Film+ streaming you can watch British independent film Name Me Lawand explores the deaf experience through the eyes of a refugee and his immediate family, as a young deaf boy from Iraq moves to Derby.
We also have short documentary Audible, about a high-school team of American football players who are deaf, and Louis is a short animation from France that gives valuable insight into how a deaf child experiences the world around them and what we can do to learn from others who see things from a different perspective.
Mental Health Awareness Week (13-19 May)
The theme for 2025 is Community, which aims to use Mental Health Awareness Week to celebrate the power and importance of community.
Our Wellbeing: Positive Mental Health resource is designed to give young people the opportunity to discuss some of the issues that affect them as they grow up, while I'm the One - Health and Wellbeing uses an award-winning youth-made short to address several issues around mental wellbeing.
Additionally, our Moving Minds: Exploring Mental Wellbeing resource explores the short films created during our Moving Minds filmmaking project, which gave 200 young people aged 11-19 the chance to work with professional filmmakers to devise and create their own short film on an aspect of wellbeing that they thought was significant.
Meanwhile, our Mindfulness Through Film online course (created in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation) explores how film watching and filmmaking can be used by educators to introduce mindfulness principles and exercises.
Endangered Species Day (16 May)
Every year on the third Friday in May, Endangered Species Day aims to celebrate, educate and promote action towards protecting threatened and endangered species.
Newly available to stream with Into Film+ is Kensuke's Kingdom, a gorgeously hand-drawn animation that promotes respect for nature and wildlife and celebrates the beauty of human connections that transcend language barriers.
You can also enjoy feature-length documentary Escape from Extinction, which dives into the great efforts being taken to preserve animal species around the world.
June
Pride Month
Starting as a result of the Stonewall Riots, and headlined by the iconic annual march through central London, Pride Month is a vibrant and inclusive celebration that honours the LGBTQ+ community, their history and achievements, and their ongoing struggle for equality.
Our dedicated LGBTQ+ page collects our most relevant LGBTQ+ films, resources and articles to help you explore Pride Month in your classroom. Of particular relevance is uplifting British comedy Pride and our accompanying film discussion guide. Pride depicts an unlikely moment in British history when, in 1984, gay rights activists offered to form an unexpected alliance by supporting striking miners.
Meanwhile, In Nature is a short animated film that offers an introduction to topics around sexuality and gender for younger audiences, as well as providing an insight into the animal kingdom that demonstrates that same-sex relationships aren't just a human story.
World Ocean Day (8 June)
World Ocean Day supports collaborative conservation, working with its global network of youth leaders and 2,000+ organizations in 150+ countries, and by providing free and customizable promotional and actionable resources.
Brand new to Into Film+, Disney sequel Moana 2 delivers more oceanic adventures, whilst also promoting a healthy respect for our seas and nature as a whole.
Meanwhile, Conservation Conversations is a short film (rated PG) that uses archive footage from the Yorkshire and North East collections of the Yorkshire Film Archive. The subjects in these films capture and reveal the shifting concerns around issues that have radically impacted our environment over the decades.
And for educators, our Sustainability Through Film online course explores how film can engage learners in important conversations about sustainability and empower them to amplify their voices on what matters to them most through filmmaking.
Refugee Week (16-22 June)
Refugee Week is the world's largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. The theme for 2025 is Community as a Superpower: "Community is the incredible everyday. Ordinary and extraordinary. Simple acts of shared generosity. Kindness multiplied to become an unstoppable force!"
Two of our Doc Academy resources are ideal for exploring Refugee Week in the classroom. Our Moving To Mars resource is aimed at English learners aged 11-14, and uses the documentary Moving to Mars to explore the situation in Myanmar, following the plight of a refugee family who leave the country to begin a new life in England. Aimed at learners aged 11-16, our Exodus - Forced Migration Toolkit introduces varying perspectives on the topic of forced migration, and aims to develop the capacity for independent and critical thinking, empathy, understanding and social responsibility.
Meanwhile, our Refugee Week Shorts resource can be used as a stimulus to discuss the hardships and resilience of refugees around the globe, using two short films accessible to learners aged 11-19.
You can find even more relevant films, resources and more on our dedicated Refugees and Migration page.
Learning Disability Week (16-22 June)
Organised by charity Mencap, Learning Disability Week is all about making sure the world hears what life is like if you have a learning disability. This year's theme of "Do you see me?" is focused on helping those with learning disabilities be seen, heard and valued.
Available to stream with Into Film+, In My World, In Your Eyes is a short documentary told from the perspective of an 11-year-old girl as she narrates her journey and experience as someone growing up with autism.
Meanwhile, our How to Make a Film resource was created in partnership with Carousel, and provides a step-by-step filmmaking guide for young people with a learning disability, autism and additional needs.
World Music Day (21 June)
This annual celebration of all things musical aims to celebrate and promote the global language of music, and to bring together people of different nationalities, cultures, and races through music.
We have a whole suite of music-related resources that have been produced to meet the requirements of both the curricula for music across the nations and the model music curriculum for England, with versions for both primary and secondary learners.
- Primary Model Music: Composing
- Primary Model Music: Inspiring Poetry
- Primary Model Music: Speaking Musically
- Primary Model Music: Personification
- Primary Model Music: Start with Skills
- Secondary Music: Expressive Performance
- Secondary Music: Technical Listening
- Secondary Music: Creating Drama
You can also enjoy French comedy La Famille Bélier (The Bélier Family) on Into Film+, which is about a girl with an amazing singing voice who, in order to pursue her talents, must move away from her deaf parents who rely on her. It's also the film that Oscar-winning film Coda is based on.
Additionally, educators can book our Music and Soundtracking training session, which helps to develop confidence and a range of strategies to work with film soundtracks across the curriculum as stimulus to develop listening, discussion, analysis, reading, writing, composition and filmmaking skills.
Windrush Day (22 June)
Each year Windrush Day marks the anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush - the ship that gave its name to a generation of Caribbean immigrants in the UK.
Short films Black and Welsh, a documentary celebrating what it means to be Black and Welsh through personal testimonies from a diverse range of people, and Jemima + Johnny, a film exploring race relations in post-riots Notting Hill in the 1960s through the friendship of a little girl and boy, are both available to stream with Into Film+.
Our Black Star: Diversity and Equality resource uses Jemima + Johnny and another short film to explore themes of diversity and equality.
School Diversity Week (24-28 June)
Organised by LGBT+ charity Just Like Us, School Diversity Week is a UK-wide celebration of LGBT+ equality in education. The Just Like Us website features a number of resources and ways of getting involved.
Available to stream with Into Film+, Lily: A Transgender Story is a documentary covering five years in the life of a transgender teenager in rural Wales, while Pete is a short animation that serves as a tiny monument to queer history and experience, when in 1975, young Pete wants to play baseball with her male friends but is faced with all the complications that come with being a girl.
July
Plastic Free July
Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution - so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities.
Short film The Story of Plastic is available to stream with Into Film+ and provides an overview of the modern plastics industry and how it is affecting the planet, while The Wonderful Story of Aisha, Ali & Flipflopi the Multicoloured Dhow Boat sees an African family come up with an inventive solution to the issue of plastic pollution in the ocean.
Meanwhile, our Our Generation vs Climate Change resource uses feature-length documentary The People Vs Climate Change as a catalyst to explore all sorts of issues around recycling, net zero, and climate change. In particular, the 'E-Waste and Disposable Culture' and 'Reduce, Recuse, Recycle' PowerPoints are ideal for sparking classroom debates.
For educators looking to improve their confidence in this field, our Sustainability Through Film course will help you explore how film can engage learners in important conversations about sustainability and empower them to amplify their voices on what matters to them most through filmmaking.
Nelson Mandela Day (18 July)
Biographical film Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom is available to stream with Into Film+ and can be further explored using the accompanying film discussion guide, while our Mandela: A Life and Legacy on Film resource is ideal for secondary learners.
Also available is short animation All of Us, which aims to put a spotlight on the global rise in cultural and religious intolerance by conveying a simple yet powerful premise: that no child is born with prejudice and therefore children can be a way to build bridges between communities.
How Do I Get Started with Into Film+?
To access Into Film+, all you'll need is an Into Film Account - it's completely free, and only takes a moment to set up. Into Film+ is free to use for all UK state schools that hold a valid Public Video Screening (PVS) Licence from Filmbankmedia.
Filmbankmedia PVS Licences are paid for on behalf of schools by all local authorities in England and by some local authorities in both Wales and Scotland. Into Film NI cover the license cost for some schools in Northern Ireland. For further information on licensing in your locality please see our FAQs.
If you're a state school in England that's funded by the Department for Education, you will automatically have access to Into Film+ Premium, which offers an extended catalogue of 700+ titles. Find out more about Into Film+ Premium in our FAQs.
If you don't have a PVS Licence, or aren't already covered, then a licence can easily be obtained from Filmbankmedia.
Filmbankmedia
Filmbankmedia licenses and distributes film and TV entertainment to many groups and is the licensing authority we work with to ensure schools, libraries and youth groups have the permissions to screen films from our catalogue.
* Screenings for an entertainment or extra-curricular purpose require a PVS (Public Video Screening) Licence from Filmbankmedia. State-funded schools in England are covered by the PVS Licence.
The core Into Film programme is free for UK state schools, colleges and other youth settings, thanks to support from the BFI, awarding National Lottery good cause funding, and through other key funders including Cinema First and Northern Ireland Screen.
