Running a college classroom has always had an element of challenge. Keeping topics relevant, maintaining student attention, and providing multiple activities for different learning styles has been part of the professor’s checklist for ages. Since the 30s or 40s, film has been a part of that toolkit. Whether you’re an adjunct looking to fill some class periods with meaningful material that also lets you get caught up on some grading or a librarian serving a large psychology department, you’ll want to take a look at some of these films. Each is highly rated by our reviewers and could easily be included in the coursework of your average psychology course.
Behind the Rage
Behind the Rage: Inside America’s Domestic Violence will be a perfect choice for many psychology classrooms. Filmmaker Deeyah Kahn puts the focus on the social, economic, and psychological drivers behind domestic violence by talking to former abusers who have gone through various systems of rehabilitation and now attend a support group. Through the experiences of this documentary’s subjects, we’re given an in depth overview of the potential restorative justice can have in our society if guided by the right principals and psychological understanding. Consider Behind the Rage first and foremost if your students are attending your 101 level course in preparation for diverse higher-level coursework like law enforcement, social work, and pre-med as well as psychology.
Read the full review of Behind the Rage here.
Stream Behind the Rage on Kanopy here.
Period Party
Magnolia A Productions
Sometimes, a whole class period is just too much time to give to a film. That’s when short films like Period Party come into play. At just 15 minutes in length, Period Party is a perfect touchstone for learning about how society, family, and biology can all come together to challenge how humans feel and think. The film itself is a simple party that challenges the societal predilections of secrecy and shame around menstruation. Period Party would be an outstanding tool for psychology classroom discussion, acting as a springboard into analysis of the field’s past failures, rampant misogyny, and racism.
Read the full review of Period Party here.
Learn more about Period Party here.
Film Platform
The Mind Game LGBTQ Documentary Review
The Mind Game
The study of PTSD has been rapidly developing since the early 2000s. In The Mind Game, we follow Sajid Nasiri through his own journey as a 14-year-old fleeing war-torn Afghanistan. He is flung into a situation no child should ever be in, that of guardian, defender, and documentarian. As his unique story unfolds, we’re given interjections from the now adult Sajid who talks about how the experience shaped and changed him, making him the man he is today. Those interested in stress, asylum seekers, and social justice will be most interested in The Mind Game, but any psychology professor could use this title as a perfect segue into broader classwork about post-traumatic stress.
Read the full review of The Mind Game here.
The Mind Game is available for purchase at Film Platform.
I Am We
Docutainment Films
I Am We Mental Health Documentary
Many disorders are poorly understood and understudied. In many ways, the history of psychology is making this mistake again and again until an understanding is reached. We don’t have to look far into the distant past for things like hysteria: Today’s dismissed disorder has recently received a bit more study and attention that is long overdue. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is often relegated to the horror genre where unassuming people become psycho-killer monsters, but the reality of the disorder couldn’t be further from the cinematic portrayals. I am We is an open-minded exploration of one person with DID. Willow tells us about her life and family, occasionally introducing us to more of her “people.” This fantastic documentary does a lot of work to undo the damage of generations worth of media misrepresentation, hoping to be a gateway to better understanding of this disorder based in deep childhood psychological trauma. Consider using I am We in your psychology classroom this semester.
Read the full review of I Am We here.
Stream I Am We on Prime Video here.
Indican Pictures
Running With Demons Documentary Film
Running with Demons
Addiction and recovery is a major focus of many who will be entering the workforce with a psychology degree. A lot of students will have had no real previous interactions with addicts or their stories outside of fiction. Adding a film about this subject to their coursework can be an easy and effective way to get students thinking and challenging their preconceptions. Running with Demons follows Todd Crandell, founder of Running for Recovery. In this film he shares his own experience with addiction and recovery, hoping to help others with similar trauma avoid the pitfalls he’s fallen into and show them a better life is possible. Psychology students will enjoy the intensity and change of pace this unique sports documentary will give them.
Read the full review of Running with Demons here.
Get your copy of Running with Demons on DVD here.
Forced Change
Passion River Films
Forced Change Documentary
August 2005 changed millions of lives across the gulf coast, especially the most marginalized communities in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina swept over the famed delta hub and inundated it under a wave of storm surge. Such climate cataclysm is becoming more common as the climate continues heating, and the forced change seen in Forced Change can help students and climate disaster victims understand the psychological impact of the climate crisis. Anyone interested in social work, trauma, and climate change will want to see this fantastic documentary, especially for the way it documents changes over many years.
Read the full review of Forced Change here.
Get your copy of Forced Change on DVD here.
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