Family Movie Nights

To help families spend time together and share common experiences, The Leadership Institute provides recommendations for Family Movie Night. Each week, a new movie recommendation and explanation is available for your consideration. Enjoy the show!

If you are looking to see where a particular movie is streaming or is available online, please visit https://www.justwatch.com

The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Here’s a foreign film from the Vatican’s 1995 list of “Some Important Films”. Following four peasant families in an Italian province in the late 1800s, the film does not have… Read More
The Rosa Parks Story
Growing up in the racially segregated Alabama, the young Rosa McCauley does not take for granted that she or her family and friends are somehow inferior to others; she knows… Read More
The Book Thief
This week’s film is a war time drama that’s more appropriate for older viewers. It’s 1938 in Germany when young Liesel is forced to move in with new foster parents.… Read More
Grave of the Fireflies
This week’s film is more appropriate for older viewers. It’s also one of the saddest films ever made, so be sure to have the Kleenex nearby. It’s 1945, and the… Read More
A Bag of Marbles
Joseph is a young boy living in occupied France in the early 1940s. He’s not sure why he’s supposed to wear a yellow star on his jacket. His world is… Read More
Fatima
“Faith begins at the edges of understanding.” This week’s film tells the true story behind the 1917 “Miracle of the Sun” in Fátima, Portugal. When 10-year-old shepherd Lúcia and her… Read More
Joan of Arc
Although All Saints’ Day refers to all saints, both known and unknown, here’s a classic 1948 film about one of the most famous saints. Devout in her faith and dedicated… Read More
1776
With the 4th of July less than a week away, here’s a classic musical that takes us back to the founding of a new nation. It’s the summer of 1776,… Read More
Nightjohn
“Words are freedom.” Sarny is a young girl growing up as a slave on a Southern plantation in the 1830’s. Though life is rough, she feels fortunate to be chosen… Read More
Au revoir, les enfants
This week’s film, whose title translates to Goodbye, Children, is a foreign drama that’s more appropriate for older viewers. In 1944 occupied France, the young Julien miserably returns to the… Read More
Newsies
Here’s an underdog musical drama with a number of catchy songs from the songwriters behind other Disney classics, such as Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. In New York City,… Read More