Co-Instructor

Summary: 

Future Filmmakers is an extracurricular program that mentors high school students to create personal documentary films and bring those films to audiences of their peers through festivals, classrooms and community spaces. Now in its third year, prior cohorts’ films have gone on to national film festival, and are regularly included in high school and college curricula. 

Future Filmmakers is seeking a dynamic part-time co-instructor passionate about teaching personal documentary filmmaking for its high school curriculum in Berkeley. This year's curriculum is already developed and the co-instructor would teach approximately twelve workshops of two hours each between September 2026 and June 2027. There are two teachers for this program, the co-instructor, and the Program Director for Future Filmmakers sharing classroom responsibilities.

Teaching responsibilities include:

-lesson delivery. 

-running critique sessions during all stages of the filmmaking process.

-providing personalized feedback to students based on their project.

-providing general classroom support including time management, setup and breakdown after workshop sessions. 

In addition to teaching, co-instructor will: 

-providing limited technical support on mirrorless cameras (Canon R7) and other production gear as needed.

-meet virtually 2-4 times a month with the larger Future Filmmakers team. (more as needed)

-Possibly serving as an advisor to 2-4 student projects, which entails working closely with a student to develop their specific project over the course of the academic year.  

-Adapt curriculum to suit specific needs of this year’s cohort.

-Attend a weekend-long kickoff retreat in October in the Bay Area.

The ideal candidate will have: 

-Professional experience making documentaries including a track record of film festival acceptance and/or other relevant professional development. Experience making a personal documentary is highly valued. 

-Experience teaching film production at the high school and/or college level, including leading productive in-class critiques and discussions.

-Superb communication and organization skills: Future Filmmakers uses Slack for internal communication and Circle as a course management platform for student communication.

-Technical proficiency working with mirrorless cameras and knowledge of Adobe Premiere, Frame.io, and basic post-production workflow.

Additional Details:

-12 workshop sessions will likely be on Monday mornings from 8am - 10am from October 2026 through June 2027. Some virtual sessions will take place on Thursday evenings to be scheduled.

-Responsibilities would take approximately 5-10 hours per week on average. Some weeks starting out would take fewer, others would take more as students complete their films towards the end of the academic year. 

-Salary $1,500/month for October 2026 - May 2027. 

-Co-instructor will need to pass a Berkeley Unified School District background check including fingerprinting.

To apply, submit via LinkedIn by 8/31/26

-a resume including teaching experience

-a cover letter that includes a brief teaching philosophy (statement that outlines your approach to teaching)

-links to 1-2 documentary work samples 

-Contact information for three references 

Please contact Dinesh Sabu at [email protected] with any questions.