Previous generations of students learned about history from reading the textbooks, listening to teachers, and analyzing primary source documents. Today, these forms of instruction take a backseat to learning about the past from such media as Hollywood commercial film, YouTube, Netflix, and video games. Teachers must find ways to teach students to be active, rather than passive, media viewers. This requires teaching historical media literacy. In this article, the author describes a five-step process for using film as an effective teaching tool.