For four years, from their first school year to their fourth year, Séverine Barde followed students from a school in the multicultural Pâquis district, in Geneva. “Growing Up,” released on November 6, sheds light on this mini-society in which children develop their social and academic skills.
Cinematographer and director, Séverine Barde signed in 2019 a first feature-length documentary on Geneva nightlife figure Greta Gratos. She returns today with “Grandir”, a film shot in immersion in the De-Chateaubriand school, in Pâquis, a very popular and multicultural district of Geneva.
This documentary, co-produced by RTS and filmed from a child’s perspective, interferes in the daily lives of students from their first school year to their fourth year. During these four years, very young children discover life in a community, dealing with different personalities, interacting and socializing with their peers. A founding stage of life for children, some of whom do not speak French when they enter school.
>> Listen to the interview with Séverine Barde and Nahed Ghezraoui:
Not a film about school
According to Séverine Barde, her documentary is not a new film about school. “It is above all a film about how we grow up and how our soul grows,” explains the director in the 12:30 p.m. of November 4. “School is a setting because it is a place where we can (. ..) observe in a condensed way what is happening between these little beings who will begin to interact”.
Watching the film once finished, the teacher of the first two years of childhood, Nahed Ghezraoui, admits to having been surprised by “a lot” of things. “There are lots of really extraordinary situations that happen on the sidelines. As a teacher, you tell yourself that you’re going to control everything and in the end, you realize that things happen where you don’t see nothing.” Thus, Séverine Barde’s camera captured, for example, moments when young children discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict among themselves.
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Installed over the long term
“I find it interesting to be able to see the interactions between the students, to imagine the class as a mini-society and to see how the children integrate into it and what are their strengths, their difficulties and the means they give themselves to to be able to live their schooling”, notes Nahed Ghezraoui.
Filmed over four years, about twenty days per year, the film takes place over a long period of time and allows us to observe the extent to which the children change and evolve. “It brings us back to ourselves: we evolve every moment throughout life and if we remember the person we were four years ago, we notice that we also have a lot changed. These children, for me, are mirrors of who we are today,” concludes Séverine Barde.
Comments collected by Pauline Rappaz
Adaptation web: Melissa Härtel
“Growing up” by Séverine Barde. To be seen in French-speaking cinemas since November 6, 2024.
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