The story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who, as a teenager in the late 1950s, had an affair with an older woman, Hanna, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. He alone realizes that Hanna is illiterate and may be concealing that fact at the expense of her freedom.
Inocencio Prieto y Calvo receives a letter telling him he is the heir to his uncle's fortune of two million pesos. Not being able to read he has no idea of who sent the letter or its content. So he goes to the drugstore because the pharmacist can read the letter to him. But while waiting to be helped he sees that a young girl can read. He figures he has to be able to discover the letter's content by himself and decides he will save the letter and go to school, and wait to read the letter on his own.
A retired high school English teacher is confronted by a former student who failed her class 15 years prior. He then involves her in a feature-length presentation on Moby-Dick and the science of reading.
Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island - and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.
John is a man of many talents, including one forbidden skill: he can read. When he teaches a young slave girl named Sarny to read and write, she learns an unforgettable lesson about the power of words and the true meaning of freedom.
An exploration of Burroughs’ life story, as told by Burroughs himself along with many of his contemporaries, including Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin, Francis Bacon, Herbert Huncke, Patti Smith, Terry Southern, and William Burroughs Jr.
A short film on Republican efforts to improve education standards during the Spanish Civil War.
The raw, heartfelt and often funny journey of adult Aboriginal students and their teachers as they discover the transformative power of reading and writing for the first time.
Too often, if a child is illiterate at the end of third grade, they will fall behind forever. By nine years old, many children are already SENTENCED to the cycles of poverty, prison, and addiction that have devastated generations before them. Our story begins with a heartbreaking look at adults who never learned to read and ends with the children who still have a chance.
In Turkey far too many women are still unable to read and write, and all they see in their life span is being forced into early marriage and relegation to the home, where they look after extended families and more children than they can feed. The girls are portrayed in their homes, together with the strongest supporters of their emancipation through education: their mothers. Girls of Hope portrays five girls who struggle for their education and, despite all the difficulties, try to hold on to their hope for a better future.
The Truth About Reading looks at the illiteracy problem in America, highlighting people who learned to read as adults, and sharing proposed solutions for working towards a future where every child learns to read proficiently.
A library on four legs, the world's only existing Camel Library is located in Northern Kenya. As they pass antelopes and giraffes, the heavily loadedcaravan of camels are routinely carrying books through the rough savannah.In the villages with their houses of mud and dung these tenacious desert ships are wishfully awaited by the people of the nomadic Muslim tribes. Under the shade of acacia trees, especially the children are excitedly turning pages of school books, novels and comics. However, 400 kilometers outside of the capital city of Nairobi the local librarians are still struggling with illiteracy, old traditions, insufficient funds, blistering sun and - stubborn camels... This is the story about the Camel Library, about inquisitive children, about the origins of a book and about a camel and an exceptional librarian in the heart of Africa within the UNESCO-world decade of alphabetization.
Inspired by true events, a young Frederick Douglass is secretly taught to read and write by his master's wife. Using only the air as their blackboard, this random act of kindness provided an education that paved the way from slavery to freedom.
