They have just arrived in France from countries including Ireland, Serbia, Brazil, Tunisia, China and Senegal. For a year, Julie Bertuccelli filmed the discussions, conflicts and joys of this group of students ranging in ages from 11 to 15, who come together in the same class to learn French. In this little theatre of the world, the innocence, energy and contradictions of these teenagers are expressed. Driven by the same desire to change their lives, they challenge many preconceived ideas about youth and integration and give us hope for the future…
Director's Biography
Julie Bertuccelli is a French director born in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1968. She has a Master’s degree in philosophy and worked as an assistant director with directors such as Georges Lautner, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Bertrand Tavernier and Christian de Chalonge while launching a career as a documentary film-maker in 1993. Her first feature film, “Depuis qu’Otar est parti” (Since Otar Left) (2003), was a great international success and won numerous awards, including the Critics’ Week Grand Prix at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival and the César for the Best First Feature Film in 2004. Since then, her feature films such as “L’arbre” (The Tree) (fiction, 2010), “La cour de Babel” (School of Babel) (documentary, 2014), “Dernières nouvelles du cosmos” (Latest News from the Cosmos) (documentary, 2016) and “La dernière folie de Claire Darling” (Claire Darling) (fiction, 2018) have been screened and received awards in numerous festivals around the world.