Teacher Guide
Learning goals, teaching notes, and answer keys.
View Teacher NotesPaper & online answer keysThe Speed Cubers Movie Guide
Choose the format that fits your classroom, then explore the film through focused questions and evidence.
About the Film
Max Park and Feliks Zemdegs compete while sustaining a supportive relationship. Analyze how practice, community, and documentary choices complicate a simple rivalry narrative.
Movie at a Glance
- Release year
- 2020
- Genre
- Sports and human-interest documentary
- U.S. rating
- TV-PG (Netflix U.S. label)
- Runtime
- Approx. 40 minutes
- Director
- Sue Kim
- Writing / format
- Documentary; no fictional screenplay
- Based on
- Documentary interviews and competition footage
- Music
- Dan Vidmar
- Featured participants
- Max Park, Feliks Zemdegs and their families (documentary participants)
- Story setting
- International speedcubing; the 2019 world championship
Check your edition when planning class periods; cuts and playback speeds can change runtime.
Content to Preview
- Discussion of developmental challenges and family worries.
- Competition disappointment and emotionally intense interviews.
- Accounts of autism and family concerns; discuss the individuals respectfully without requiring personal disclosure.
Preview your edition, follow school viewing and permission policies, and provide an appropriate alternative assignment. Suggested grades 5–12 are Teach Arcade’s classroom recommendation, separate from the film’s U.S. rating.
Classroom Connections
Use scene evidence to explore the topics above. Pair historical portrayals with reliable sources, literary adaptations with their texts, and animated metaphors with appropriate factual context.
Film details, advisories & classroom context: Netflix U.S. documentary information · Content advisory (spoilers)