Cinema is a literacy
children deserve.
One curated film a week. A trained volunteer leader. A complete discussion guide. Watched together, talked about afterwards — in every kind of school, at almost no cost.
★ Why this matters
Children watch hours.
They see almost nothing.
Indian school curricula give virtually no time to film as a literacy. Children grow up consuming hours of streaming content but are rarely taught to watch closely, talk about what they have seen, or notice craft.
Hours of screen time daily
The average urban Indian child. None of it is taught. Almost none of it is discussed. Drishyam changes what children do with that attention.
Curriculum time for film
Of CBSE / ICSE curriculum dedicated to film as a literacy. World cinema and Indian regional cinema are invisible to most school-age children.
Films in our library
Curated across three age bands — Junior, Middle, Senior. Indian regional, world cinema, animation, documentary. Every film age-appropriate and content-checked.
★ The case for cinema
What good cinema does for a child.
Among all the things children consume, film does something none of the others quite do. It asks for two unbroken hours of full attention. It puts a child inside another life. It runs at the pace of a story, not at the pace of a feed. And it ends — leaving something behind to talk about.
Empathy that lasts
Narrative film exposure produces measurable, retained gains in perspective-taking — the ability to imagine what another person is feeling.
Attention, rebuilt
Watching a 90-minute film — phones away, lights down — trains children to follow long-form thought in an era of 15-second loops.
Confidence to speak up
Our discussion format gives quiet children a low-stakes way to have a public opinion. Teachers report: kids who never raised their hand in class are the first to raise it in club.
A shared story
Children who watched the same film at the same age remember it together for life. In a country as plural as India, shared narratives across class, language, and faith aren't a luxury.
Agency & voice
Every week, children vote on what they want to watch next. That single moment of agency is one of the strongest signals teachers in our clubs report.
Language & culture
Subtitled world cinema is one of the fastest ways to absorb an unfamiliar culture. Our library spans 20 countries and 16 languages.
★ How it works
One great film. One hour to watch.
One hour to talk.
Every session follows a simple, proven structure. Schools provide the AV. The volunteer leader runs the session using our complete discussion guide. No extra teaching resource required.
★ The Programme
Any school. Any child.
Every week.
Drishyam is designed for every school — not a particular kind, not a particular budget. Club leaders are trained volunteers from the city's film and arts community. The guides, the library, the support are all built to fit inside a school day without adding to anyone's workload.
★ Standing on shoulders
"Film speaks to children in a way that no other medium quite manages — it puts them inside another life."
Beeban Kidron · The Shared Wonder of Film · TED 2012
Drishyam is inspired by Beeban Kidron's FILMCLUB UK, which ran 5,000 after-school film clubs across Britain. We are adapting that model for India — with a curated library built for Indian classrooms, volunteer leaders drawn from India's film community, and guides that meet children where they are.
Ready to bring a film club to your school?
Partner with us as a school, or volunteer as a Club Leader. Everything you need — a curated library, complete guides, training — is here.