BAM Education: School Audiences: The Class

Part of BAM Education

Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 10:30am

Grades 10—12

Directed by Laurent Cantet

(2008) 165min (includes post-screening discussion)

Winner of the Palme d'Or, the highest award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, The Class is an absorbing journey into a multicultural high school in Paris over the course of a school year. François Begaudeau—the actual teacher whose novel the film was based on—stars as an open-minded teacher in charge of a class of young people from a wide variety of backgrounds. As the school year progresses, cultures and attitudes often clash and tensions rise. Featuring a cast of young nonprofessional actors, The Class is a fictional drama which has the spirit and energy of a documentary. The startlingly assured ensemble brings the new, culturally diverse France of the early 21st century to striking life and provides a fascinating comparison to high school life in New York. In French, Bambara, and Spanish with English subtitles. Rated PG-13. Post-screening guest to be announced.