School of Babel
Description
A remarkable and powerful film, Julie Bertuccelli’s documentary details a year in the life of a Parisian class of immigrant youth from countries around the globe—boys and girls ages 11 to 15—who have come to France to seek asylum, escape hardship or simply better their lives. They are placed in a “reception class,” and given intensified training in learning and speaking French, and are brought up to par in various other subjects so that they can eventually assimilate and join their peers in regular classes. Their teacher, Brigitte Cervoni, demonstrates extraordinary patience, skill, tenderness and insight in counseling and teaching the students, and in interactions with their parents or guardians. Filmed without narration, the story takes place largely within the classroom and is told primarily through the images, emotions and responses of the kids themselves. The vivid backgrounds of the students’ lives—some of them heartbreaking—poignantly emerge as they bond with their teacher and each other. The honesty, innocence, intelligence, heart and pure communicativeness of these young people, as well as their frustrations and hopes for the future, offer a unique perspective on the immigrant experience in this extraordinarily touching film. –Tim Sika
Julie Bertuccelli, born in 1968, is the daughter of filmmaker Jean-Louis Bertuccelli. She worked as an assistant director to several well-known filmmakers before helming several documentaries for television. Her debut feature, Since Otar Left (SFIFF 2004), won the Cannes Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize of Critics’ Week and the Grand Golden Rail, as well as the César Award for Best First Work of Fiction among several other awards. Her next film, The Tree (2010), was nominated for several César Awards and a number of major international film festival and film institute prizes.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/90582215?autoplay=1Film Details
Language French
Original Language Title La cour de Babel
Year 2013
Runtime 89
Country France
Director Julie Bertuccelli
Producer Yaël Fogiel, Laetitia Gonzalez
Editor Josiane Zardoya
Cinematographer Julie Bertuccelli
Music Olivier Daviaud
Print Source Pyramide International/ Ilaria@pyramidefilms.com