The Illinois State Bar Association website offers a unit on "Teaching Diversity with Film." They note that "laws extend protections to everyone in our increasingly diverse nation. We can be proud that our equal rights laws and acceptance of diversity stands as an example to other governments and societies. The pdf here gives a list of films that can be used as tools to generate classroom and community discussions about diversity. They also outline a "Diversity Movie Review Activity."
Here is our list of the best films about diversity.
Akeelah and the Bee vividly conveys the conflict within an African-American teenager who is given a chance to display her special talent but is frightened to do so.
Arranged celebrates the integrity of two deeply religious women — an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim — as they question tradition but finally discover they can support it as a path with meaning.
A United Kingdom — based on a true story of an interracial marriage between an office worker and an heir to an African throne — explores the moral fiber and resilience it takes to combat racism.
Beyond Our Differences, an ambitious documentary, portrays men and women of different religions who walk the talk of faith and aim to mend the formidable conflicts of the 21st century.
Billy Elliot beautifully plays out the theme of learning to follow your dream with the support of others, through the story of a boy from a mining town in England who aspires to be a ballet dancer.
Boyz 'N the Hood is the story of one black boy's coming-of-age armed with the ideas, ideals, and hardiness given to him by his tough-but-tender father.
Brokeback Mountain reveals the pain of hidden and split identities in the lives of two Western cowboys, forced to keep their love secret through long and lonely years.
Freedom Writers pays tribute to a teacher who makes an enormous contribution to the lives of her students and celebrates the unity that can arise out of diversity.
Fried Green Tomatoes expresses the life-enhancing and soul-stirring powers of friendship, which makes it possible to face even violence and small-town racism.
Growing Up Coy presents the story of a landmark case about the value of state antidiscrimination laws to protect the rights of transgender people.
Human allows our hearts, minds, and senses to merge with others through interviews with people from more than 60 countries who answer essential human questions.
In Jackson Heights immerses us in a diverse and lively Queens neighborhood where more than 167 languages are spoken and community activism is alive and well.
Liberty Heights shows how the spiritual practice of openness expands the horizons of two Jewish teenagers who learn painful and important lessons about anti-Semitism and class power games.
Love Free or Die chronicles the slow but steady changes put into motion by the first openly gay Episcopal bishop in America.
NoBody's Perfect signals to us the importance of viewing people born disabled, due to the disastrous side-effects of the drug Thalidomide, with a keen respect for human diversity.
Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman as an autistic savant and Tom Cruise as his narcissistic brother, captures and conveys their emerging genuine relationship.
Remember the Titans follows the true story of a Virginia high school football team and the two coaches, one black and one white, who led them during one season to great triumphs both on and off the field.
The Rabbi's Cat emphasizes the essential unity of life through the unusual quest of a rabbi, a skeikh, and a talking cat.
Wondrous Oblivion examines themes of respect for diversity and coming of age through the story of a ten-year-old Jewish boy who lives in London next door to Jamaican immigrants.
