The touching documentary by a director from Caen on the Calvados nursery arrives on France 3

It’s a unique immersion offered Julie Lerat-Gersant through his first documentary. An immersion in an institution little known to the general public and often presented under unflattering angles.
The Caen director decided to explore the Caen nursery, located since its move in May 2022 from rue d’Auge in Fleury-sur-Orne. We follow the daily life of men and women from early childhood who take turns with children aged 0 to 6 years old. This living space temporarily accommodates these children whose worrying family situation led to a separation from their parents.

A work in several stages

What interested me was this whole network of care around these children put in place by professionals. I wanted to explain how this type of structure works.

Admiring the work of early childhood professionals, the director and her loyal team spent a lot of time in the nursery.
Without the camera first, to make yourself known to children and professionals. Then with the camera, but without filming and finally came the “16 or 17 days” of filming in September and October 2022. “Initially, my idea was to film the move of the nursery from Caen to Fleury. To film the transition from a dilapidated place to a modern place, but in the end, not much happened. »
So the team adapted. Without voice-over or surtitling, Julie Lerat-Gersant wanted to make a “very honest” film. “I wanted to defend the institution and the people who work there. It’s very dense, because it’s a place that never stops. »

“A family obsession”

A bit like her. At 40, the woman who co-founded the theater company La Piccola Familia in 2006 with Thomas Jolly, took her first steps in cinema with the release of his first fiction film Petites in 2023. Again, he was family question.

There is a slight obsession with me about what family is and the question of separation. When I first became a mother 12 years ago, my mother fell into a coma. I think it was a split point in my life that shook me to my core.

His next project will again be fiction. Currently being written, with his co-director and companion François Roy, the action will take place in Le Havre and will focus… on family.

Another common point of his achievements: Normandy necessarily. Fleury-sur-Orne for the nursery, Cherbourg, Caen and the coast for Petites. “It’s a very beautiful region cinematographically. It seems natural to me to make films in the provinces, more anchored in reality and in a territory that I know. »

A sportswoman, she swims, runs and does yoga, Julie Lerat-Gersant likes spending time with her family and laughing. “It’s true that the themes of my films are not happy, but there is always a flash in the darkness. I would love to write a comedy. You just have to have the right idea. »

Broadcast on France 3 on May 9 at 10:50 p.m. This film will be available on the france.tv platform.

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