CAFILM Education’s Filmmakers Go to School (FGTS) program connects elementary, middle, high school, college and university students with filmmakers from around the world by coordinating on-site visits to schools throughout the Bay Area. As a result, filmmakers get the chance to share their work with—and get direct feedback from—young audiences, and students get the unique opportunity to meet filmmakers and engage in in-depth discussions about their work and the art, craft, and business of filmmaking.
CAFILM Education is expanding and revamping its FGTS program into a robust year-round program that pairs local Bay Area filmmakers with schools and encourages educators to implement the short films in the yearly curriculum guides.
CAFILM Education hand-picks 3-4 films to participate in classroom visits and conversations throughout the school year 2025. Educators can choose from a curated selection of films and schedule screening and visit dates on their campuses. These visits may be virtual or in person, depending on the filmmaker’s availability. By working with local artists, we can create a more accessible, streamlined initiative that fosters deeper connections between filmmakers and Bay Area classrooms.
FILMMAKERS GO TO SCHOOL 2025: STORIES BY THE BAY
This year, all of our participating Filmmakers Go to School films and their respective artists are grounded in community work and narratives. These films are portraits of activism, healing, and culture, while highlighting the curiosity of how to keep legacy alive.
CAFILM Education is committed to sharing films that demonstrate the importance of access to personal stories and the singular experiences and identities that form the Bay Area. As you navigate the program, we have recommended study areas and the impact that each filmmaker can provide for students.
ALIVE IN BRONZE: HUEY P. NEWTON
GRADES 6-12
ABOUT THE FILM:
Sculptor Dana King and wife of Huey P. Newton, Fredrika Newton’s memories come together to build a monument: a bust of Black Panther Party leader Huey. Newton, for the Oakland community. From conception to unveiling, these women set off on a journey to reclaim erased history.
This film is a short documentary that explores a nexus of art, race, and legacy through the personal journeys of King and Newton.King and Newton allow the camera to document the creation process of this important sculpture and their collaboration takes place in a time when America is energized to reevaluate the stories that monuments are telling.
Director A.K. SANDHU (US 2022) 20 min | WATCH TRAILER
Courtesy of MTV Documentary Films
IMPACT:
How is legacy connected to art and archival footage in ALIVE IN BRONZE? This documentary film invites us to the journey of two women capturing the essence of a historic figure and a movement in a sculpture. Simultaneously, filmmaker A.K. Sandhu considers the history of the Black Panther Party through a curated selection of archival footage sprinkled through live-action, present footage. Archival footage in documentary filmmaking allows us to understand and recontextualize history as viewers, and allows filmmakers to utilize it as a tool of truth and community. Students can discover how archival footage can heighten the experience of documentary filmmaking and how communal archival access works.
RESOURCES:
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER:
A.K. SANDHU is a Desi-American filmmaker who directs, produces, and writes films about female protagonists, the immigrant experience, and new perspectives on history. Probing themes such as race, class, spirituality, and cross-cultural solidarity, she tells stories to bridge the gap between our perceived differences and cultivate a deeper understanding of human connections. Her debut award-winning film, ALIVE IN BRONZE: Huey P. Newton (previously known as For Love & Legacy) screened at festivals like Tribeca, PanAfrican, Mill Valley, and beyond before being acquired by Sheila Nevins for MTV Documentaries.
HISTORIAS DE CULTURA: COMIDA
GRADES 6-12
ABOUT THE FILM:
COMIDA, a short film in the Historias de Cultura: Oaxaca en Santa Cruz film series, showcases a group of Indigenous elders in Santa Cruz coming together to share culinary traditions from their homelands in Oaxaca. Many of their recipes are a healing tool for their community, in which the tradition of preparing and sharing certain cultural dishes supports diverse communities and fosters a more inclusive world. (Note: If you would like to watch the entire film series, let us know in the form.)
Director Megan Martinez Goltz (US 2023) 12 min | WATCH TRAILER
IMPACT:
What is the diaspora? In HISTORIAS DE CULTURA: COMIDA, Indigenous elders share how accessing traditions from their homelands in Oaxaca is a vital tool for healing not only themselves but also their communities Santa Cruz, CA. Filmmaker Megan Martinez Goltz proposes to use documentary filmmaking as a tool to collaborate with your community, capture your stories and the complex diaspora, and uplift narratives made for and about our identities. Students can learn the power of community storytelling and the creation of films borderless in place and language.
RESOURCES:
Curriculum Guide
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER: 
MEGAN is an award winning queer Chicanx storyteller and whose work has been showcased at Tribeca Festival, Indy Shorts, and on PBS. They are committed to creating immersive soundscapes blended with vibrant histories across generations, borders, and languages. Megan embraces storytelling to pave a pathway to ancestral and community connection and is passionate about indigenous sovereignty, queer and trans liberation and weaving medicine into entertainment with every project.
PARTNER ORGANIZATION:
SENDEROS
Senderos specializes in teaching Latino culture and history through the artistic expression of dance, music and language. Our organization serves children, youth and adults of all ages, including English Language Learners and economically disadvantaged people, free of cost. We keep alive our native cultures and languages, represent our countries of origin with pride, share our culture and contribute to the larger community, promote harmony, and break stereotypes.
SATURN RISIN9
GRADES 7-12
ABOUT THE FILM:
In a poetic mix of dance, visual narrative, and documentary, SATURN RISIN9 follows queer performance artist Saturn on their return home to the Bay Area. We follow their journey of perseverance centering self discovery, affirmation, healing and creative expansion poetically told through fantastical imagery. Using diary style interviews and talk-alongs intercut with high fantasy staged performance, the film portrays Saturn’s creative transformation through their dreams, trials, career and progression. The film begins and ends adjacent near a Superfund Site near Hunter’s Point Shipyard. Saturn’s journey through this space extends to their own personal struggles, paralleled with environmental and water issues that continue to this day. Saturn speaks to their own journey of transformation, healing with community, and finding spaces to thrive at the edges. This film highlights Saturn both as a storyteller in many different forms (word, dance, music) and as a protagonist through a character driven story of perseverance. SATURN RISIN9 as a film exists as a byproduct of love, trust, and the determination to realize dreams, intended to be a never ending well of visual and lyrical affirmations.
Directors Tiare Ribeaux, Jody Stillwater (US 2024) 10 min | WATCH TRAILER
IMPACT:
What is a dance film and how can it address systemic issues? Saturn Risin9 is a dance film that not only showcases dynamic movement but also uses dance as a powerful form of storytelling, transformation and empowerment.Through dynamic movement and innovative visuals, filmmakers Tiare Ribeaux and Jody Stillwater demonstrate how dance becomes more than just physical expression; it serves as a language that conveys complex emotions, cultural identities, and transformative journeys. This film encourages students to see movement as a powerful tool for expressing identity, healing, and resistance, while offering a fresh perspective on how art can address systemic issues and inspire collective change.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS:
TIARE RIBEAUX (she/they/ʻo ia) is a Kanaka Maoli filmmaker, artist and creative producer based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Her work takes a decolonial approach to storytelling by employing non-linear narratives akin to our elemental cycles to tell stories around transformation and healing, centering how our bodies are inextricably linked to land and water systems. She integrates magical realism into her films, and lets a story unfold across multiple characters and elemental forces. She uses components of speculative fiction and fantasy to reimagine both our present realities and future trajectories of land reclamation + restoration, healing, queerness, and belonging.
JODY STILLWATER 周青海 is a filmmaker and artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is renowned for his expertise in dynamic movement, granular semiotic language and rhythm within the framework of narrative filmmaking and multi-disciplinary projects. With a cultural background that is Chinese/Norwegian/Cherokee-American, he identifies as mixed. A two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker and co-founder of Yanasa Creative Group, Jody has showcased his work at MoMA, Hammer Museum, de Young Museum, YBCA, Mutek, Gray Area, Honolulu Museum of Art. He has been commissioned by Google, Meta/Facebook and was a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley, Stanford and Indiana University.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
Step 1: Educators, click the button below to choose the film or films that you would like us to bring to your classroom.
Step 2: Share your preferred date and time for a visit
Step 3: A CAFILM Education staff member will follow up to coordinate and schedule your visit
HEY, FILMMAKERS… !
Are you a local Bay Area filmmaker or a visiting Bay Area artist passionate about inspiring the next generation? Our Filmmakers Go To School Program connects students with creative professionals to explore the art of filmmaking through engaging workshops, discussions, and screenings.
We’re inviting filmmakers to share their work and participate in this impactful program. If you’re interested in shaping young minds and fostering a love for cinema, submit your work and details through our submission form below.
FILMMAKERS GO TO SCHOOL IS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM
NANCY P. AND RICHARD K. ROBBINS FAMILY FOUNDATION
MARIN CHARITABLE
Photos © Tommy Lau Photography