

To Be and to Have(2002)
An observation of the humanity of young people.
The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.


Movie: To Be and to Have
Video Trailer To Be and to Have
Recommendations Movies

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her(fr)
As the city of Paris and the French people grow in consumer culture, a housewife living in a high-rise apartment with her husband and two children takes to prostitution to help pay the bills.

Black(fr)
Mavela, 15 years old, is a Black Bronx. She falls madly in love with Marwan, an extremely charismatic member of a rival gang, the 1080s. The young couple is forced to make a brutal choice between gang loyalty and the love they have for one another. An impossible dilemma.

The Circle(fa)
Various women struggle to function in the oppressively sexist society of contemporary Iran.

Benjamin(en)
Benjamin, a rising star filmmaker, is on the brink of premiering his difficult second film ’No Self' at the London Film Festival when Billie, his hard drinking publicist, introduces him to a mesmeric French musician called Noah.

Kash Kash: Without Feathers We Can't Live(ar)
My hometown, Beirut, is torn apart by a corrupt political elite, anti-government protests, and one of the biggest explosions of the 21st century. But above the roofs of the city, I discovered an unexpected bearer of hope: the pigeon game of chance "Kash Hamam". Every evening, the sky populates, and all over the city swarms fly out of their cages. Their flight follows the choreography of an ancient tradition. Each player holds their own flock and lets it circle over his house, with the chance to lure the pigeons of the neighbors onto his roof to expand his flock. During the recent political collapse of Lebanon, we embark on a journey from roof to roof. When it all perishes, why do we hold on to flying? The film observes a city in turmoil from the perspective of three pigeon players and a young girl fighting to release her own birds.

The New Country(sv)
A 15-year-old Somalian boy meets a 40-year-old Iranian man in a refugee camp in Skåne, in the south of Sweden. With the threat of deportation hanging over them, they decide to take their faiths in their own hands and together they go on a journey in the Swedish summer.

Genealogy of Violence(fr)
A young couple sits in a car when two policemen pull up to command a routine identity check. They ask the man to get out and proceed methodically with a pat-down, as he stands in front of the car, watched by his dismayed girlfriend.

Le Temps de cerveau disponible(en)
Cruelty, psychological and sexual violence, humiliations: reality television seems to have gone mad. His debut in the early 2000s inaugurated a new era in the history of the audio-visual. Fifty years of archives trace the evolution of entertainment: how the staging of intimacy during the 80s opened new territories, how the privatization of the biggest channels has changed the relationship with the spectator. With the contribution of specialists, including philosopher Bernard Stiegler, this documentary demonstrates how emotion has made way for the exacerbation of the most destructive impulses.

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears(ru)
This is a life story of three girlfriends from youth to autumn ages. Their dreams and wishes, love, disillusions...

The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe(fr)
A hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.

Light of My Life(en)
Parent and child journey through the outskirts of society a decade after a pandemic has wiped out half the world's population. As a father struggles to protect his child, their bond—and the character of humanity—is tested.

Bis(fr)
Éric and Patrice have been friends since high school. Over the years, they have both taken very different paths: Éric has become a hedonist, has a string of girlfriends and is always on the look out for a new one; Patrice has become a monogamous father with a very ordered life. After a drunken evening, the two childhood friends find themselves cast back into 1986, when they were 17 years old. This return to the past is a dream opportunity to try to change the path their lives will take. What will they do with this second chance?

Fahrenheit 9/11(en)
Michael Moore's view on how the Bush administration allegedly used the tragic events on 9/11 to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Memoirs of a Geisha(en)
In the years before World War II, a penniless Japanese child is torn from her family to work as a maid in a geisha house.

The Prince of Egypt(en)
The strong bond between two brothers is challenged when their chosen responsibilities set them at odds, with extraordinary consequences.

The Princess Diaries(en)
A socially awkward but very bright 15-year-old girl being raised by a single mom discovers that she is the princess of a small European country because of the recent death of her long-absent father, who, unknown to her, was the crown prince of Genovia. She must make a choice between continuing the life of a San Francisco teen or stepping up to the throne.
Similar Movies

Sherwood Park(en)
Reclaiming what was once stolen from him, a man journeys back to the place of his childhood nearly 80 years after his world came crashing down.

In Between(sq)
In rural Kosovo, identical houses are built for family members working abroad, in the hope that they will one day return to settle in their old homeland.

Safe Crossing: An EGG-cellent Idea!(en)
This video reinforces the importance of safe crossing and loading/unloading behaviors for primary age students. In the story, the main character goes on an adventure with his pet dinosaur “EGG” to stress the dangers of the loading zone.
Fluid(en)
A low budget, comedic documentary following a young man trying to take a deeper look into water, its purpose, and how we, as a society have chosen to use it.
A Living Room Conversation: Mark Meckler and Joan Blades(en)
Citizen Film created a short film in collaboration with the National Writing Project, for classroom use. The film models a “better argument” between MoveOn co-founder Joan Blades and Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler. The National Writing Project is disseminating the film to thousands of classroom teachers around the country along with prompts for reflection, dialogue and persuasive writing inspired by this short film. After viewing the film, students discuss its themes. They choose a theme to write about and their instructor guides them to craft an argument that is not only well researched, but also addresses a wide audience, including people who hold positions ideologically opposed to their own.

The Tattooed Police Horse(en)
Barred from racing for breaking stride, a trotting horse finds a new career as a police officer's mount in Boston.

Village without school(nl)
Griendtsveen, a picturesque village in the Peel on the border between Limburg and Brabant, is in danger of losing its primary school De Driehoek. The school, which has been the beating heart of the village for years, is about to close its doors. Documentary maker Ellis Smulders follows the teachers and parents who are determined to keep their school, if necessary by forming the school board themselves. Will they succeed in preserving the core of the close-knit village community, and thus the soul of the village?

My Dear Theo(uk)
In a series of letters to her young son, a mother, soldier and filmmaker documents her thoughts from the Ukrainian frontline.

I Know a Place(es)
Young people who decide to leave their home to seek opportunities for the future face different difficulties on a daily basis. The inevitable estrangement with family and lifelong friends. The constant lack of understanding, the coldness and individualism of the new city. The stress and even the feeling of being a stranger back home. This journey to the future sets out issues about identity, nostalgia and courage, while they fight to find their place in a changeable world.

School Vandalism(en)
Explores school vandalism by re-creating a true incident involving four youths. Discusses motives and consequence of vandalism.

Age of Learning(ne)
In rural Nepal, Bishnumaya Gurung, 48 and Palhamu Sherpa, 66 go to primary school everyday and make space for learning in their lives as single women.

Inside Wrestling School(en)
A look at one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the United States, professional wrestling.

Los Felices(es)
A love letter to Mar del Plata made of images, times and a road trip. "The Happy Ones" is an experimental short documentary composed of past and present family footage. It portrays a place in the summer, the city of Mar del Plata, with a span of 20 years between past and present images (January 2000 and 2020). Despite the time that passed by, it's beaches, essence and people remain, always willing to keep dancing.

Mimo: Sau Chun's Story(en)
Growing up, I heard many tales of my grandmother's life, before she was known as Mimo, and each narrative she told stuck with me and still impact my thinking to this day. I wanted to celebrate Mimo's wisdom and character, as well as capture the extraordinary within the ordinary. Hopefully I can inspire others to reflect on their own relationships with their elders and the untold stories that shaped their lives.

Our Baby: A Modern Miracle(en)
What's it like starting a family when you're both transgender? This intimate film follows Hannah and Jake Graf on a journey through prejudice and surrogacy to birth during lockdown.

First Case, Second Case(fa)
First Case, Second Case is a documentary about a teacher who sends a group of pupils out of the classroom when one of them does not own up to talking behind the master's back.