Akata Witch

Jess is a British Punjabi eighteen-year-old in West London who plays soccer better than anyone in her park, and her parents want her to learn to cook a full Indian dinner. She joins a women's team behind their backs, falls for her coach, and has to find a way to be both daughters at once. It's a comedy with a wedding, an ugly sports bra and a lot of heart.

Why it’s here: The film makes a joke out of the fight between family expectations and a girl's ambition, and the girl wins on her own terms. What's punk is that Jess isn't asked to choose between her people and her game. What's pedagogical is how it handles racism, sexism and homophobia in a form a family can watch together. Pairs with Persepolis and Funny Boy.

Every year about 1,000 Texas high school boys spend a week building a fake government, with parties, campaigns and elections. The directors followed four of them, including a Black teen who is the first to win a seat and a conservative strategist who learns to play the game. A funny and unsettling look at how people learn to win power.

Why it’s here: The film makes a civics class feel like a Lord of the Flies preview. What's punk is how fast a made-up democracy turns into one that plays dirty. What's pedagogical is the way it lets students see rhetoric, tactics and compromise play out among peers. Pairs with How Democracies Die and the Fascism bundle. Note: it's boys-only by program design, and the American Legion runs the program, which the film shows with some irony.