Ethnographic film screening School for life

School for Life is an intimate ethnographic portrait of a six-member family, created as part of the doctoral dissertation Visual Ethnography of Housewives in Slovenia. The film follows Mihaela, a former Slovenian language teacher, who chose to stay at home after the birth of her first daughter and decided not to send her children to kindergarten or school. Together with her husband Boštjan and their four children, she explores alternatives—from natural home births and homeschooling to pursuing a more ecological, sustainable, and self-sufficient way of life.

For Mihaela, education is inseparable from everyday life—woven into household chores, play, gardening, and family interactions. The film tenderly observes how learning and upbringing unfold in spontaneous daily moments and shape the family’s rhythm between 2021 and 2022, a period marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and Boštjan’s year-long parental leave.

Made by: Manca Filak, Audiovisual laboratory ISN ZRC SAZU

Year of production: 2025

Runtime: 60’

The film has English subtitles.