Make the Theater Your Classroom

Our curated film programs and FilmEd experience—including audience voting, post-screening discussions, and Q&As led by a Festival educator—provide students with a thought-provoking, fun, and dynamic way to explore timely and important topics like race, identity, and belonging. Teachers receive pre-visit and post-visit discussion guides that encourage creativity and critical-thinking through vocabulary, discussion questions, and activity prompts.

Why field trips?
FilmEd Field Trips offer the same energetic, participatory atmosphere of the annual Festival that engages students in a lively learning environment. Our programs are available for grades K-2 and 3-5 and utilize short films that celebrate the beauty and complexity of our world while emphasizing the experiences of underrepresented characters and filmmakers. NYICFF’s nearly 30 years of curatorial excellence ensures that selected films have been created by a diverse group of international filmmakers and feature characters not often found on or behind the screen—namely women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, the disabled, and other historically excluded communities. Screenings take place in multiple venues and libraries in order to meet classes in their own neighborhoods.

Admission is $10/student for most schools. Admission for Title I schools is free.

curriculum

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Upcoming Field Trips

Grades K–2

Fri October 23
Brooklyn Public Library (Central)

Thurs October 29
Queens Public Library (Central)

Wed November 18
Bronx Library Center

Fri December 4
Brooklyn Public Library (Central)

Tues December 15
IFC Center (Manhattan)

Thurs December 17
Queens Public Library (Central)

Tues January 12
IFC Center (Manhattan)

Wed January 20
Bronx Library Center

Grades 3–5

Wed October 14
Bronx Library Center

Tues October 20
IFC Center (Manhattan)

Fri November 13
Native Stories (Grades 4–5)
Brooklyn Public Library (Central)

Tues November 17
iHola Cine! (Grades 4–5)
Queens Public Library (Central)

Mon November 23
Native Stories (Grades 4–5)
IFC Center (Manhattan)

Wed December 9
iHola Cine! (Grades 4–5)
Bronx Library Center

Fri January 15
Brooklyn Public Library (Central)

Thurs January 21
Queens Public Library (Central)

Grades 6–8

Fri December 11
Native Stories (Grades 6–8)
SVA Theatre (Manhattan)

Venues

ifc center

bronx library center

brooklyn public library

quad cinema

queens public library

Dual-Language & Festival Field Trips

We offer a select number of field trips during the course of the March Festival. Each trip consists of one feature film and, when possible, a filmmaker Q&A (either in person or virtually). These trips are a great opportunity for schools with dual language programs, but all schools are welcome.
For more info, click here.

Frequently Asked Questions

All FilmEd Field Trips are led by a NYICFF educator and include pre- and post-visit guides for teachers. These guides prepare students for screenings by introducing the language of film and provide opportunities for deeper classroom discussions. Curriculum is informed by Harvard University of Education’s Visual Thinking Strategies and the inquiry-based “See, Think, Wonder” approach that encourages students to look closely, make observations, and formulate interpretations. By focusing on observation before interpretation, students develop the ability to communicate their thoughts and back up their assertions about meaning with evidence from the films. Discussion questions are purposely open-ended to demonstrate that there are no wrong answers. This format encourages the expression of a variety of observations and opinions in conversations that are student-led, leaving room for multiple paths of further exploration.

In addition to inquiry-based learning prompts, additional Field Trip facilitators build discussion around individual films or themes that align with students' experiences, interests, or areas of study and encourage students to bring their own experiences into dialogue with the stories portrayed on screen. Through these discussions, they can further understand film as a means of authentic and artistic personal expression, even considering film as an accessible way to tell their own stories. Listening to the answers and opinions of their classmates and participants from other schools in attendance urges students to consider the thoughts and feelings of those around them, as they make new connections enriched by broader community engagement. Guiding questions align with the NYS Blueprint for the Arts Moving Image component and NYS DOE learning benchmarks.

Field trips currently take place at Festival venues in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens that are easily accessible by public transportation and can accommodate bus drop-off
Total program runtime is 2 hours (screening is approximately 1 hour)
$10/student (free admission for teachers and chaperones)*
Title I public schools attend for free
Transportation must be arranged by school

*there is an additional $5 fee if bringing more than 1 chaperone for every 10 students