'Calling Attendance' is an Across The Pond production for international foundation Education Above All which skilfully utilises dramatic action to raise awareness of how coordinated attacks on worldwide education profoundly impact child learning.
Enhanced by striking cinematics and inventive shot choices, a fictional schoolteacher takes register at the beginning of class that throws a spotlight on harrowing scenarios involving the absent child in question. From the epic scale of a student walking through a disaster zone to the unsettling simplicity of a lowered voice in a bathroom at home, students respond but are never really 'present'.
It's a haunting ode to the simultaneous fragility and power of education, employing sobering motifs that nimbly put you on the emotional back foot. This is a rare brand film that will stay with you for some time after you turn off your computer.
