TORONTO, November 30, 2001 -- "Life at School: The D.A.S. Tapes" is a feature documentary film produced by King Squire Films about the daily lives of children and their teachers at the Downtown Alternative School (D.A.S.), a Toronto public elementary school where children from kindergarten to grade six were taught, supported, and encouraged by teachers to negotiate their way through conflicts.
The documentary was created from the work of York University Faculty of Education Prof. Esther Sokolov Fine, who collaborated with producers/directors Roberta King and Ron Squire to gather video material for her three-year study "Children as Peacemakers". The unusual degree of access provided by the school to the filmmaking team allowed for a rare and intimate look at children in school. As they related naturally to one another and to their teachers, the children revealed behaviour and conversations that adults rarely get to witness. The result is a documentary that offers a ‘fly on the wall’ perspective on interactions on the playground and in the classroom. The film also features an original music score by musician Ken Whiteley.
"During the three years of our project we had almost total access to three elementary classrooms," said Fine. "Our talented camera crew watched and recorded their play, their learning, their arguments, their complex discussions and their attempts at reconciliation. This was a stunning opportunity to learn more about how children and teachers together can create hospitable and safe classrooms. The film sets a stage for future study, as teachers continue to think about important connections between curriculum and the social climate of their classrooms," she said.
Said King, "We were struck by some rare and entertaining scenes of children working and playing together and talking candidly to each other away from the adult gaze. We had never seen such authentic material of young children being so completely themselves."
Adds Squire, "It was like experiencing another culture. We decided to create a documentary that could be broadcast and distributed broadly that would be fascinating and would reveal this secret life of children at school."
The documentary will be screened at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Hall theatre, located at 317 Dundas St. W. (McCaul St. entrance), on Saturday, December 8, at 6 and 7:30 p.m.
A generous financial contribution in support of this event has been provided by the Brazilian Ball Fund Youth Initiative at York's LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution. This outreach initiative is aimed at reducing violence in the lives of children and youth.
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For more information, please contact:
| Roberta King, Ron Squire | Dr. Esther Sokolov Fine |
| King Squire Films | Faculty of Education |
| 416-922-6509 | York University |
| king.squire@sympatico.ca | 416-736-2100, ext. 88795 |
| efine@edu.yorku.ca | |
| Anderson Coward | Ken Turriff |
| Faculty of Education | Media Relations |
| York University | York University |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 58024 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22086 |
| acoward@edu.yorku.ca | kturriff@yorku.ca |
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