The Belcourt education and engagement program is excited to present its second year of Films Forever, a field trip series for high school students in Nashville and surrounding areas.
Teachers of students in grades 9-12 can browse our calendar of high-quality film offerings and register to bring their classes to the Belcourt. Films Forever field trips are from 9:30am to 12:30pm on selected dates. Each field trip event will feature a film introduction and screening, free popcorn and bottled water, and a post-screening discussion. Post-screening discussions are led by Belcourt education and engagement staff, with occasional guest speakers. Field trips are designed to accommodate classes from multiple schools at the same time. Films Forever field trips are provided at no cost.
Developed by the Belcourt’s education and engagement team with support from local educators, Films Forever aims to support existing curriculum — while building media literacy skills and introducing film language and concepts.
How to register for a Films Forever field trip:
- Review the available films and calendar dates via the link below.
- Complete the linked registration form.
- Once you’ve submitted your form, you’ll get an email confirmation. Then, we’ll follow up approximately two weeks from the event to confirm your head count and share other details.
All groups must register in advance through this form to attend Films Forever Field Trips.
Sign up here for regular email updates on Films Forever — as well as other Belcourt educational offerings including our twice-monthly High School Film Club and the twice-yearly Strong Leads Film Seminar for High School Girls.
Please note that Films Forever is programmed for high school grades 9-12. Additional field trip opportunities for elementary and middle school grades are also available. For questions or to explore opportunities:
Allison Inman
Belcourt Education and Engagement Director
615-846-3150 x20
allison@belcourt.org
Mon, Sep 22
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE
Dir. Nicholas Ray | USA | 1955 | 111 min. | PG-13
Drama / Romance
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark (James Dean) is supposed to have a clean slate, but being the new kid brings its own problems. Searching for stability, Stark bonds with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. When Judy’s boyfriend Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid’s real troubles begin.
Topics: James Dean as cultural icon, melodrama, alienated youth, family dysfunction, gender roles, societal pressures
Wed, Oct 1
FLOW
Dir. Gints Zilbalodis | Latvia | 2024 | 85 min. | PG
Animated / Family / Adventure
A wondrous journey through realms natural and mystical, FLOW follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land, the cat and his companions must rely on trust, courage and wits to survive the perils of a newly aquatic planet. From the boundless imagination of the award-winning Gints Zilbalodis (AWAY) comes a thrilling animated spectacle as well as a profound meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of friendship and community. Steeped in the soaring possibilities of visual storytelling, FLOW is a feast for the senses and a treasure for the heart.
Topics: Animation, environmental catastrophe, teamwork, community
Mon, Oct 27
THRONE OF BLOOD
Dir. Akira Kurosawa | Japan | 1957 | 110 min. | Not Rated | In Japanese with English subtitles
Action / War
A vivid, visceral Macbeth adaptation, THRONE OF BLOOD sets Shakespeare’s definitive tale of ambition and duplicity in a ghostly, fog-enshrouded landscape in feudal Japan. As a hardened warrior who rises savagely to power, Toshiro Mifune gives a remarkable, animalistic performance, as does Isuzu Yamada as his ruthless wife. THRONE OF BLOOD fuses classical Western tragedy with formal elements taken from Noh theater to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Topics: Adapting Shakespeare, Japanese cinema, visual storytelling
Wed, Nov 12
THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
Dir. Víctor Erice | Spain | 1973| 97 min. | Not Rated | In Spanish with English subtitles
Fantasy / Drama
In a small Castilian village in 1940, in the wake of Spain’s devastating civil war, six-year-old Ana attends a traveling movie show of Frankenstein and becomes possessed by the memory of it. Produced as Franco’s long regime was nearing its end and widely regarded as the greatest Spanish film of the 1970s, THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE is a bewitching portrait of a child’s haunted inner life and one of the most visually arresting movies ever made.
Topics: War and its aftermath, the power of cinema, cinematography, symbolism, children as protagonists
Tue, Dec 2
THE FAREWELL
Dir. Lulu Wang | USA | 2019 | 98 min. | PG
Comedy / Drama
In this uplifting tale based on an actual lie, Chinese-American Billi (Awkwafina) reluctantly returns to China as her family’s beloved matriarch has been given mere weeks to live. Keeping Nai-Nai in the dark, the family gathers under the guise of an impromptu wedding. Billi finds a chance to rediscover the country she left as a child, her grandmother’s wondrous spirit, and the ties that bind.
Topics: Family bonds, immigration and assimilation, grief and dying, cultural traditions, intergenerational relationships
Tue, Jan 20
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Dir. Jonathan Glazer | USA, UK, Poland | 2023 | 106 min. | PG-13 | In German, Polish and Yiddish with English subtitles
War / Drama
Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and the 2024 Academy Award for Best International Feature, THE ZONE OF INTEREST centers on the domestic life of Hedwig and Rudolf Höss, whose family home is spitting distance from Auschwitz, the infamous German concentration camp located in occupied Poland, where Rudolf serves as commandant. Shot on location, THE ZONE OF INTEREST weds banal and overt acts of evil with unforgettable reminders of resistance.
Topics: Holocaust studies, cinematography and sound
Wed, Feb 11
TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
Dir. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders | USA | 2019 | 120 min. | PG-13
Documentary
TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM offers an artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the acclaimed novelist. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to ‘70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature. Woven together with a rich collection of art, history, literature and personality, the film includes discussions about her many critically acclaimed works, including novels The Bluest Eye, Sula and Song of Solomon, her role as an editor of iconic African-American literature, and her time teaching at Princeton University.
Topics: African-American literature and life, the creative process, American icons
Wed, Mar 25
PETITE MAMAN
Dir. Céline Sciamma | France | 2022 | 72 min | Not Rated | In French with English subtitles
Fantasy/Drama
After the death of her beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly meets a strangely familiar girl her own age in the woods. Instantly forming a connection, they embark on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps Nelly come to terms with her newfound loss. Drawing lovely, subtle performances from her young stars, French auteur Céline Sciamma allows us to see the world through Nelly and Marion’s eyes.
Topics: Grief, childhood, friendship, French cinema, female filmmakers and protagonists
Thu, Apr 9
WADJDA
Dir. Haifaa al-Mansour | Saudi Arabia | 2012 | 98 min. | PG | In Arabic with English subtitles
Coming-of-Age Drama
In a country where cinemas are banned and women have restricted rights, Saudi Arabia’s first feature film by a woman is a barrier-breaking work of many firsts. After a fight with a boy in her suburban Riyadh neighborhood, precocious 10-year-old Wadjda becomes fixated on a beautiful green bicycle for sale so that she can beat the boy in a race. Fearing repercussions from a society that sees bicycles as dangerous to a girl’s virtue, Wadjda’s mother won’t allow it. Wadjda, through a series of schoolyard schemes, struggles to raise the money herself and sets her sights on a Koran-recitation competition with a cash prize.
Topics: Childhood, gender norms, perseverance, Middle Eastern cinema
Thu, Apr 30
THE OUTSIDERS
Dir. Francis Ford Coppola | USA | 1983 | 91 min. | PG
Coming-of-Age Drama
Set in 1960s Tulsa, S. E. Hinton’s young adult novel was brought to screen by Francis Ford Coppola with a cast of up-and-coming stars. The sometimes violent youth subculture of Tulsa is defined by rival gangs: the wealthy Socs and, on the other side of the tracks, the Greasers. When a gang fight becomes deadly, Greasers Ponyboy and Johnny find themselves on the run.
Topics: Socioeconomics, gang violence, literature, adaptation, acting, directing
