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WINSTON-SALEM -- We live in a test-it-to-death culture when it comes to education.

Sit down with any public school teacher, and they’ll rattle off the ordeal of teaching to the end-of-grade tests mandated by the state. Their students, they say, turn into bundles of stress.

Then, try to teach them. They’re 21st-century kids, married to Madden, YouTube and all things video. They love technology. And to them, the whole idea of education seems so … 20th century.

But give them a movie. Or better yet, give them a movie with a lesson, one that exposes our country’s fiscal irresponsibility or shows the difficulties of a Peruvian family selling ice carved and hauled from the mountains.

Or simply introduce them to Luna, the orca with a heart.

It all changes. Just check out what’s happening in Forsyth County.

High school students who’ve seen “I.O.U.S.A.’’ the documentary about our country’s fiscal crisis, have written essays about talking to their parents about saving money, getting an education and the need to find an answer.

And they want to get busy.

Elementary school students who’ve seen “Saving Luna,’’ the documentary about a lonely orca, have decorated letters with pink sea horses and written about what they learned from a 3,000-pound whale.

“Luna really shows us that no matter what size, what color, or what species,’’ writes Hannah Rice, a fifth-grader from Sherwood Forest Elementary, “a friend is a friend, and that is all that matters!’’

It’s all courtesy of Winston-Salem’s RiverRun International Film Festival.

Sure, it’s a move that helps RiverRun broaden its audience. But it’s also a move by a former elementary school teacher, a mother of three, who understands the timeless lessons caught by a camera lens.

That’s Jane McKim. She’s RiverRun’s community director. For the past two years, she’s road-tripped to various Forsyth County schools and shown films to the next generation of voters.

She calls it “Films With Class.” Check out McKim’s notebook, and it’s full of scribbles. So far this fall, McKim has visited eight schools and talked to more than 800 students.

She’s met with school officials, talked to teachers, and in papers strewn about her dining room table, she’s mapped out a curriculum that taps into North Carolina’s social studies standards all students have to meet.

And it costs the schools nothing.

Ask anyone about these standards, and you hear ideals that sound incredibly Hallmark. It’s this idea of turning students into global citizens, of developing empathy and understanding that stretches way beyond any neighborhood.

But then there’s what McKim calls “golden moments.’’

Like “Shikashika,’’ the 10-minute documentary about Peruvian families carrying huge chunks of ice from the Andes. They cut the ice with axes and later shave it, flavor it and sell it in open markets on Sundays.

In the film, not a word of English is spoken. But a student from Wiley Elementary, a native of El Salvador, understood.

“My grandmother used to go and gather wood and carry it on her back,’’ he told McKim.

Then, there’s Anna Rubin’s fourth-grade class at Hall-Woodward Elementary. Sit with them as they watch the end of “Saving Luna,’’ and you’ll see a little girl with the purple jacket in her mouth.

They’ve gotten attached to Luna as it frolicked in a Canadian sound. They watched it tail people, nudge people and torpedo out of the water like a black-and-white bullet, not a care in the world.

Then, Luna meets a tugboat. The tugboat wins.

Afterward, ask them what they learned from the film, and they’ll mention Canada and whales. But these children of working-class parents, of second-generation Americans, also talk about something else. Time and again.

Let’s start with Spencer Swart. He’s 9.

“I’ve never seen whales before, but it had this human spirit,’’ Spencer said. “It’s the same thing that’s inside me, and that was weird. But a good weird.’’

Then, to Lavaris Simon. He’s 10.

“There’s that saying you hear in the movie, 'A life doesn’t have to be human to be great,’’’ he says. “And you know, it just shows you someone can have a great life if they believe — and try their hardest.’’

Finally, Jael Estrada. She’s 10. She the one who had the purple jacket in her mouth. She didn’t want Luna to die.

“Whales are no different than us,’’ she says. “God made us. He made everything, even the animals. They’re still our brothers and sisters.’’

A lesson learned. From Luna, the orca whale. “They’re getting it,’’ McKim says. “It’s a metaphor for a lot of life.’’

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com