Movies that Matter

Program Description

Each year, during our January festival, we host three days of student programming called Movies that Matter. Movies that Matter brings award-winning documentary films to Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) students. During the three days of Movies that Matter, we host seven education programs for over 5,000 students; our new virtual program allowed us to screen films for a record 8,500 students in 2021 and 11,033 students in 2022. After the documentary films, personalities from the films join students for Q & A sessions. We also bring in professors and former students from the Savannah Film Academy (SFA) to discuss the program and opportunities for high school students at SFA. We provide customized educational materials, in support of the films, that can be used in the classroom before and after screenings. The materials, developed by Mountainfilm’s education consultant, include interviews with filmmakers, suggested talking points, discussion topics and links to additional reading materials and films. The materials are free and made available online for teachers.

As a follow up to Movies that Matter, we organize and manage a mentoring program every spring. In collaboration with SFA we select five local public high school students who are interested in pursuing a degree in filmmaking and pair them with five SFA students for a three-month mentoring program. For the last four years, we have also awarded a college scholarship to high school seniors who plan to pursue an advanced degree in filmmaking.

Many of the schools selected to participate in Movies that Matter are Title I schools, where the need for education and enlightenment is paramount. Our goal is to inspire these students and to instill in them a sense of open-mindedness, self-awareness and regard for community and the world as a whole. If Movies that Matter is able to make a difference in just one young person’s life, we regard it as a complete success.

Mountainfilm visits over 200 + cities across the world, and Mountainfilm on Tour Savannah is widely acknowledged as the leading tour city of educational outreach in the United States.

Movies that Matter is supported by major entities in Savannah: Gulfstream, SCCPSS, Publix Supermarket Charities, Enmarket and Colonial Foundation. And we are proud of their support. They believe, as we do, that together we can make a difference in the lives of Savannah’s students. And by impacting their lives, we will begin to see real change in our city and our community.

Please contact Leslie Carey for information about including your school and students!