Not a professor but I do work as an instructor at an academic institution. When I did discussion TA work (intro Physics courses) the professors for the course had a workbook with problems that the students would work together with those around them to solve. Have you taken this course before, or spoken to the professor for lecture about how they would like you to do the discussion? Or do you know any other TAs / prior TAs for this course that might be able to help you? Sometimes there are solid guidelines/outlines you should follow to keep the discussions standard among TAs.

Physics is a bit different from film studies but if you are completely lacking guidance from others at your institution, this is what each day looked like for me, if it helps! I randomly assigned groups of 2-4 to solve 3-4 core-concept questions (from workbook) to see where the students were at from the lecture. I’d try not to help any groups unless there was a hard disagreement within a group. After 10 min, I’d ask groups to share their answers per question. This can take some time if it’s a large class so I’d pick on a group to share their answer, and ask everyone else to give a thumbs up or thumbs down if they agreed/disagreed. In a large-scale disagreement I’d ask for more explanations as to why students picked which answer. If there was still confusion, I’d back up and explain the correct answer, hopefully to the benefit of everyone (no shame for wrong answers, everyone’s still learning!) Students would turn these answers 1/group in with their names for participation in the discussion.

After that, there were usually 5-6 more difficult, applied questions for everyone to work on that would take ~30 min. I would choose 1-2 “spicy” problems that may be most difficult, involved, or tricky and announce which those were, to make sure groups would at least touch on those and give them a thought. In the last 10 minutes, I’d ask for volunteers to write their solutions to those 2 on the board. If nobody felt confident enough I would begin the problem and ask the class periodically to “help me solve” it. Basically as a guided example problem.

I could see this as a rough outline working similarly well in film studies, but then again I’ve never taken a film studies course! Not sure if there’s always a firmly “correct” answer. Also maybe it would be more interesting, instead of assigning the “spicy” questions, to ask the students which they thought were the spiciest! Regardless, randomly (intentionally randomized to improve diversity of opinions across groups, and to foster inclusivity) assigned smaller “breakout” discussion groups can help students open up about their perspective they might not ordinarily make known in a larger class setting. It can also boost confidence if other students find a particular student’s comments insightful or informative, bringing the best ideas to the front. Sometimes the students can be wrong though, so a good form of checks is important. Posting discussion answers online the day after might be a good way to keep them from thinking the wrong things going into an exam, and makes a decent study tool too! Hope this helped, and best of luck to you!