Fish in a Tree

Paddington, the bear from Peru, is framed for stealing a rare pop-up book and sent to prison. Instead of fighting, he makes marmalade sandwiches for the inmates, who turn out to be a better crowd than the vain actor who framed him. A family comedy about kindness as a practice, with a London that shows what a welcoming neighborhood looks like.

Why it’s here: It's a kids' movie that says kindness is a political act. What's punk is a bear who changes a prison kitchen by being polite on purpose, and a story that treats the neighbors as the heroes. What's pedagogical is how clearly it shows prejudice as the thing that turns a neighbor against a stranger. Pairs with Last Stop on Market Street, Enemy Pie and The Rabbit Listened. Note: gentle, a little prison peril; a film about welcoming migrants that never says so.

A year in a one-room village school in the Auvergne, France, where a single teacher, Georges Lopez, teaches children from four to eleven. Philibert watches without narration: a boy who won't write, a fight over a lost cap, a farm child learning to read. It became one of the biggest French documentaries ever.

Why it’s here: The film is a record of a teacher who lets time and mixed ages do much of the work. What's punk is the absence of rankings and tests, and that nothing happens except learning. What's pedagogical is how it shows a classroom without a screen, a mixed-age group and a patient adult. A quiet companion to The Class and Summerhill School. Note: Lopez sued the director in 2003 for a share of the profits and lost.