The Click Trap ©2024 Video Project

Not every video hits that just-right mix of being engaging from a student point of view while also holding educational value—because it is school, after all. But when a film gets it right and strikes that perfect balance, it can be a welcome addition to the classroom. These documentaries and videos make the transition from theater to classroom, offering welcome authenticity blended with opportunities for critical thinking and discussion.

Middle School

The Barber of Little Rock. The New Yorker. 2023. 35 min. $0 Streaming options avail.
Gr 7 Up–Arlo Washington is on a mission, inspired by his mother’s life, to close the racial wealth gap and end the economic segregation in Little Rock, AK. Washington, founder of People Trust community loan fund, sees barbering as an undervalued profession. At the Washington Barber School, many students are struggling to get on their feet after setbacks, and Washington encourages them to “cut as many heads as you can” to get to know and forge ties with the people in the community. Economic concepts, such as capital, equity, and predatory lending, are touched on along with banking practices, like redlining. These are wrapped in Washington’s belief that knowing, trusting, and compassionately supporting loan clients can build an economically stable community, citing a 95 percent loan repayment rate. VERDICT The film makes some sobering points about economic injustices, with an uplifting tone and community examples of entrepreneurial success.

Coral Gardeners: Regrowing Reefs in the Maldives. Bullfrog Films. 2024. 21 min. $99 Rental and streaming options avail.
Gr 7 Up–Gently undulating corals, quiet music, and the sound of bubbles set the scene. Ahmad “Aki” Allahgholi, a marine scientist and founder of Maldivian-registered NGO Coralive, speaks passionately on the importance of coral structures to the environmental health of the islands that make up the Republic of the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean. The film features scientific information on coral structures, bolstered with innovative efforts of scientists and Coralive to grow and attach warm water–tolerant coral to degrading reefs. Interviews are interspersed, including one with a Maldives environmental minister. While the population contributes little to global warming factors, the island and its livelihood of tourism is already severely impacted by climate change. Grassroot Maldivian efforts to clean beaches and ongoing efforts to raise awareness leave viewers on a hopeful note. VERDICT Overall uplifting and impactful; the 20-minute run time leaves ample space for discussion in science, environmental, or ecology classes.

Written on the Landscape: Mysteries Beyond Chaco Canyon. Bullfrog Films. 2024. 58 min. $99 Rental and streaming options avail.
Gr 6 Up–Historian and Chaco Canyon scholar Anna Sofaer serves as narrator and guide in her third film about this remote collection of pueblos, petroglyphs, and geographic features in northwest New Mexico. Hopi elders and scientists add important information, with animations to clarify some structural features in the landscape. Discussion of carvings and built elements (housing, roadways) from thousands of years ago frame sophisticated tracking of sun and moon movements, and demonstrate knowledge of geometry and worship tied to Mayan beliefs. The film features the 2010 use of LIDAR technology to visualize landmarks beneath the vegetation. Even so, many questions about the Chaco culture remain unanswered, including why the Chaco Canyon site was abandoned. The movie concludes on a philosophical note. VERDICT Sofaer’s decades-long study of Chaco Canyon speaks to perseverance and innovation, making this a strong starting point for discussions on science, astronomy, archeology, and humanities.

High School

The Click Trap. Video Project. 2024. 84 min. $99. Streaming options avail.
Gr 10 Up–Digital advertising and information collection is online everywhere. While the perception for many users is that the internet is free, in fact, many people pay with their attention and their data, and sometimes, in the case of scamming, with their life savings. With the aid of film clips and animations, Canadian investigative journalist Craig Silverman, along with lawyers, reporters, and others, convey sobering statistics and information about algorithms, advertising, privacy, and mental health. The film notes that Meta and Google declined to be interviewed. Film clips of the events on January 6, 2021, about 43 minutes in, contain a brief flurry of f-bombs. VERDICT This is sobering and occasionally unsettling, as well as necessary information for anyone who uses the internet. Of particular interest for psychology and business classes.

Eco-Hack! Good Docs. 2022. 16 min. $79. Streaming options avail.
Gr 9 Up–In the Mojave Desert, conservation biologist Tim Shields is on a mission: to save the desert tortoise from predation by ravens. Shields is a colorful and passionate spokesperson as he explains how human encroachment threatens tortoise habitats, and how human trash and dumpsters attract ravens that kill young tortoises (with an occasional four-letter word thrown in). Though Shields allows that scientists are supposed to be objective, he is 100 percent Team Tortoise and tries various methods to scare off the ravens without harming them. Two successful methods include green laser lights and lifelike 3-D printed tortoise shells rigged to spray a noxious fluid when pecked. Shields waxes philosophical at the end: he feels this work is vital, even though he will likely never know with certainty if it made a lasting difference. VERDICT Science, ecology, entrepreneurship, robotics, and technology classes will find useful topics. Consider for discussions of innovation and generating solutions by thinking outside the box.

Flash Wars: Autonomous Weapons, A.I. and the Future of Warfare. Video Project. 2024. 90 min. $99. Streaming options avail.
Gr 9 Up–Arguments for and against the increasing use of tech in warfare, specifically in regards to drones, are intelligently addressed by security experts, military leaders, college professors, cybersecurity specialists, roboticists, and others worldwide. Women are well represented among the interviewed experts. The film acknowledges that drones partnered with AI can be highly precise, tireless, and can save humans from entering dangerous situations. Points examined on the negative side include that any technology can be turned against civilians, such as facial recognition and deepfakes, and that AI can distance soldiers and commanders from the human realities of war. Non-warfare drone uses include a segment on Spot, a robot hostage-negotiation dog, and using drones in disaster response. VERDICT Real-time battle footage from Russia and Ukraine, alongside thoughtful interviews and cutting-edge tech will facilitate history, science, and ethics discussions.

How to Sue the Klan. Good Docs. 2024. 33 min. $79. Streaming options avail.
Gr 9 Up–A scratchy 1980 recording of a phone call to Chattanooga police sets the scene: four Black women randomly shot at from a passing car, and a fifth woman injured by flying glass down the street. The three white men arrested all had ties to the Ku Klux Klan; two were acquitted and the third served less than a year in jail. Lawyers, journalists, primary sources from the time, and interviews with the victims and their children and grandchildren explain the injustice, and how and why the Center for Constitutional Rights became involved, winning a civil case based on the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act regarding racially motivated violence. Legal concepts, such as civil law, criminal law, and 1980s civil rights issues are explained in the film. Although the women won, they never received the awarded money, but the precedent is important for cases against current-day groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and individual acts of violence, such as the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting. VERDICT Through interviews and actions, this film addresses the importance of taking a stand and fighting for justice against acts of violence and intimidation.
 

Locker Room Talk. Good Docs. 2023. 42 min. $79. Streaming options avail.
Gr 10 Up–Educator, author, and motivating presenter Tony Porter addresses juniors and seniors on the Kingston Tigers football team, digging into the concept of “the man box” and how concepts of hardened, unemotional masculinity can be toxic to boys, men, and relationships. Divided into sections (Snap, Huddle, Touchdown) Porter, pro football players, and facilitators from TMI Project use humor, personal stories, and touching handwritten memoirs from team members to encourage the teens to acknowledge their emotional sides and “be the men you have the potential to be.” Comments from pro football players interlaced with humorous moments and Porter’s powerful presence keep the message on target, so it never veers into awkwardness or self-righteous moralizing. VERDICT This documentary short provides important messages with plenty to unpack, from addressing domestic violence to learning it isn’t weak to ask for help.

Making It. Good Docs. 2023. 18 min. $79. Streaming options avail.
Gr 10 Up–Four talented and respected Australian female athletes talk about the concept of “making it” in their sports—basketball, surfing, snow skiing, and rugby—and the personal and financial pressures of being an Olympic-caliber competitor and teammate. Injuries figure prominently in every case, as does the mental toll of struggling to stay on top and deal with the inevitable defeats. Energizing minutes of the women in action pair with shared thoughtful analysis of what “making it” means to them, and their experiences of life as an elite female athlete. All of the athletes are in their 20s and early 30s. VERDICT Offers broad discussion points for sports program leaders and athletes, with interesting topics for women’s studies and business classes (pay inequality, sponsorship).

Memorial Day Massacre. Video Project. 2024. 33 min. $89. Streaming options avail.
Gr 10 Up–On Memorial Day 1937, striking Republic Steel workers in Chicago were swept up in violence as picketers and bystanders were fired upon by Chicago police, leaving 10 dead. A newsreel documenting the actions went missing, and an alternative newsreel was created, one that blamed the picketers. The missing newsreel footage, extensively included in the film, can occasionally be painful to watch. Previously taped interviews with picket line participants and reporters who were present are shown along with commentary from current-day activists, archival photos, and a slow-motion dissection of the film to present convincing evidence of Big Steel suppressing workers’ rights. Historic information on unions, labor negotiations, and strikes is brought into the present with mentions of union organizing at Starbucks, Amazon, Uber, and elsewhere. VERDICT  History, business, journalism, and ethics classes will find much to discuss.

Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX.