Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation

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.

In postwar Rome, Antonio finally gets a job pasting posters, but it requires a bicycle. When his is stolen on the first day, he and his young son Bruno spend the day searching the city. De Sica used non-professional actors and shot on the street, and the result is a simple story about what a bicycle means to a family.

Why it’s here: The film shows poverty as a trap with a clear shape. What's punk is that it refuses to make the thief a villain or the hero a saint. What's pedagogical is the father and son's walk, which shows a child watching an adult's dignity break. A foundation of neorealism, pairs with Children of Heaven and Rosetta. Note: subtitled and black and white; it's slow by modern standards but short.