Calendar Dates in Focus: February to April 2023

Throughout the year, we're always releasing articles, resources, training courses and freely* available films/programmes on Into Film+ to coincide with important calendar dates.

Film is uniquely suited to exploring pretty much any subject, and given the huge amount of content on our website as a result, these dates allow us to release new material and package up existing content in a more useful and convenient way for educators across the UK.

The 'Calendar Dates in Focus' series makes that process even easier by housing our many suggestions in one place. This half-term features several particularly crucial ones for educators such as National Careers Week, World Book Day and Empathy Week, and you can explore them all below.

February

• LGBTQ+ History Month - Both in the final week of February and throughout the year, our LGBTQ+ History Month programme on Into Film+ can help you explore the many aspects of this incredibly broad topic in an engaging and accessible way. We recently added several titles to the collection as well including the documentaries Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay, Transitioning Teens and Jamie: Drag Queen at 16. 

• World Gaelic Week (20 - 26 February) - This year's theme is 'Coming Together'. Our just-published article showcases our Scottish Gaelic language films and resources, and encourages any Gaelic-speaking schools to get in touch with the Into Film Scotland team.

• Empathy Week (27 February - 5 March) - This year's theme is 'Opportunity and Education'. Empathy Week is a key date for anyone interested in film and education, as it uses the medium to develop the crucial skills of empathy in 5-18-year-olds. Our round-up article spotlights some of our favourite Into Film+ titles, resources and youth-made shorts that can help you instill a greater sense of empathy in both primary and secondary students.

March/April

• St David's Day (1 March) - Tryweryn and its accompanying resources are available on Into Film+.

• World Book Day (2 March) - A number of literacy-related training webinars still have availability including Embedding Teaching Literacy Through Film (23 March) and Introduction to Teaching with Film: Setting (15 March) and Character (29 March).

• National Careers Week (6 - 11 March) - Our National Careers Week article showcases our new Switched On resources with the BFI, as well as a number of upcoming events in collaboration with BAFTA. Be sure to check out our talk on XR (Extended Reality) with independent curator and consultant Elaine Wong as well.

• International Women's Day (8 March)  - This year's theme is 'Embrace Equity'. We've just released an extensive collection of feature-films, shorts, documentaries and archive titles, all available on Into Film+. Meanwhile, much of our Spring Screenings programme is relevant here including multiple screenings of The Woman King and a BAFTA panel with prominent women across the industry.

• British Science Week (10 - 19 March) - This year's theme is 'Connections'. Our round-up article highlights some key resources from both British Science Week and Into Film. Our best resources include Scientific Literacy for secondary pupils and Careers in Film Through Science for both primary and secondary ones.

• Neurodiversity Celebration Week (13 - 19 March) - Our SEND Educator Toolkit helps to support a successful cinema trip for learners with SEND/ASN/ALN.

• Shakespeare Week (20 - 26 March) - The Shakespeare theme page is a perfect starting place and our Filming Shakespeare resource equips learners with the tools to produce their own film adaptations of Shakespeare plays. For any young people in the midst of revision, many of our resources link to GCSE and A Level specifications (in addition to Standards and Highers for Scotland) for Shakespeare such as Silent Shakespeare: Revision Through Film and our deep dives into his most famous plays.

• World Autism Awareness Week (27 March - 2 April) - World Autism Awareness Day falls on 2 April. We have two particularly insightful and inspiring profiles from our previous Into Film Award winners including Welsh school The Hollies and animator Joe Blandamer.

• International Transgender Day of Visibility (31 March) - You can access a number of topical and informative titles through our LGBTQ+ History Month programme such as Tangerine, Lily: A Transgender Story, All About My Mother, Transitioning Teens and Leo: Becoming A Trans Man.

*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.

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