Philadelphia Films: Videos from the Tri-Co Libraries

DVD. Through the stories of six promising inner-city Philadelphia teens, First Person explores what happens to the dreams of low-income high school students who are disproportionately shut out of four-year colleges.

Streaming and DVD. Frederick Wiseman's documentary study of Northeast High School in Philadelphia in 1968; deals with the ideology and values of a large urban high school as seen through encounters between students, teachers, and parents in guidance sessions, college counseling, discipline, faculty meetings, corridor patrol, gymnasium, and classroom activities. ALSO AVAILABLE STREAMING THROUGH KANOPY.

DVD. Paints a poignantly captivating, unflinching, and relevant portrait of the children of Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia, an inner-city neighborhood where 90% of the students live below the poverty line. As seen through the devoted and determined viewpoint of principal Deanna Burney, this shows Stanton as grossly underfunded, understaffed, and filled with children struggling to overcome their difficulties. However, for these at-risk kids growing up outside the American dream, the only hope for their future survives in the success of their education.

DVD. A recruitment video to help prospective teachers throughout the region hear what real Philadelphia students and teachers say about teaching in Philly.

DVD. In 1938, a landmark court case allowed girls to attend an all male public high school for the first time in 147 years. No Girls Allowed is the story of the groundbreaking gender integration of the nation's second oldest public high school, Central High in Philadelphia.

Streaming and DVD. Documents an entire school year at Frankford High School in Philadelphia with culinary arts teacher Wilma Stephenson, a tough and passionate teacher who shows her students how to work hard toward their goals as she prepares them to compete in a one-day cook-off with scholarships on the line where top chefs judge the students' skills and talents. ALSO STREAMING IN AVON AND KANOPY.