It’s rather amazing what a difference committed, caring teachers can make on the life of a student. The commitment to education and enlightening the minds of the next generation is no easy task, but those who forge a special connection with the charges in their classroom leave a mark that will last a lifetime, and that spirit is found in the upcoming documentary “In Loco Parentis,” which is slated to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Directed by Neasa Ní Chianáin, the film chronicles a year in an Irish boarding school, where the elderly teachers have a profound impact on the young students in the care. And as you’ll see in this exclusive, these are no ordinary educators. Here’s the official synopsis for the film:
Each fall, a new class of youngsters from around the globe file into the stately halls of Ireland’s Headfort School, bid uncertain farewells to parents, and are given over to the care of wizened tutors. The children aren’t settling into “Hogwarts,” but there is a special magic nonetheless in Headfort, where John and Amanda Leyden have taught for more than 40 years. This charming observational portrait reveals the quiet transformations of these young children under the Leydens’ tutelage. Their droll manner belies a profound empathy for their charges. These are teachers in loco parentis — in place of parents — responsible not only for teaching math and letters (not to mention electric guitar) — with but for producing confident young people and ushering them out into the world.
“In Loco Parentis” will have its first screening at Sunday on Friday, January 20th at 8 PM at the Egyptian.
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