Synopsis
Marie and Juliette quit their teaching jobs to open La Petite Ecole in the heart of Brussels where children, without former schooling and often exiled, are welcomed. Leaving aside formal learning, they offer them space and time to be children again before facing school which will expect them to be students. This film walks us through their efforts and research and thereby forces us to see the schooling system as a possible perpetuator of oppression that affects us all.
A word from Tënk
It is not enough to settle down in a country where education is compulsory to access school. How is it possible? The founders of La Petite École outline some answers but are careful not to make the slightest judgment. Their initiative lies elsewhere, entirely dedicated to the present of the children they welcome. Lydie Wisshaupt-Claudel spent many months scouting in the warm space of an old converted store. Her camera takes us from a manual workshop to a pedagogical meeting, from a reading session to a debriefing session with the gentleness of someone who wants to capture the magic of transmission as closely as possible and who also knows that this magic does not exist without the tenacity of those who animate it. The smiles of Yasser, Ahmad, Kelly, Marie, Juliette, and the others, as well as the shadows that sometimes cross their faces, do not deceive us about the fundamental importance of such a project… nor about the difficulties encountered to make it possible.
Pauline David
Programmer and director of Festival En Ville ! (Bruxelles)
