Enter the star of the festival. ENTRE LES MURS, or THE CLASS (or literally "Between the Walls"), is the film adaptation of an award-winning novel written by and based on the real-life teaching experiences of François Bégaudeau, a French journalist who played literature teacher for a short time in an inner city middle school in Paris. Interestingly, Bégaudeau is also a movie critic for the French version of Playboy. So what exactly was he teaching these children?
The director, Laurent Cantet, won the Golden Palm (Palm d'Or, the highest prize) at the 2008 Cannes Film festival in May, hence the acclaim of AFI getting a hold of this great film so quickly. Definitely the one I'm most interested in viewing, and definitely going to be a packed showing.
Buy your tickets after reading a few words from AFI:
Laurent Cantet, already a hero to cineastes for his class-strife studies TIME OUT and HEADING SOUTH, breaks into the international spotlight with this Palme d'Or-winning story of Francois who, along with his fellow teachers, is preparing for a new year at a high school in a tough Parisian neighborhood. Armed with the best intentions, these teachers brace themselves against the inevitable discouragement. Can they give their students the best education possible in an unfriendly environment? THE CLASS powerfully presents one high school as a microcosm of contemporary France, with its sometimes explosive cultural and class differences. But this is also a film about everyday heroism. By creating an atmosphere that's neither stuffy nor severe, expecting the highest performance from his students and providing them with the kind of honesty they need and deserve but only rarely encounter, Francois demands success from his students. Of course, faced with the rising standards, some students rebel … Based on the autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau, THE CLASS's immediacy and intimacy arises from its use of real students and teachers and from carefully deployed video cameras, which give the story its gritty, street-level feel. And this startling, inspiring story shows Paris like we've never seen it before.
The trailer (in French): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz5svwJqoVU
Press conference with the director (in French):
The film's website (oh, and you guessed it; it's also in French): http://www.entrelesmurs-lefilm.fr/site/
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