A Kind of Childhood(2002)

Life Is Boundless and Full of Dangers(fr)

Cédric is a child like millions of others. The only difference is that the little boy is seriously ill and must spend six months in a hospital. Fortunately, the medical staff are well aware that Cédric, like other kids named Steve or Dolores, must - above all else - live his child's life.

The Echo(es)

In the remote village of El Echo that exists outside of time, the children care for the sheep and their elders. While the frost and drought punish the land, they learn to understand death, illness and love with each act, word and silence of their parents. A story about the echo of what clings to the soul, about the certainty of shelter provided by those around us, about rebellion and vertigo in the face of life. About growing up.

That Kid(fr)

A group of educators led by Fernand Deligny are working to create contact with autistic children in a hamlet of the Cevennes.

Let the Child Be the Guide(fr)

As a young father, watching his daughter go through her life experiences, film director Alexandre Mourot discovered the Montessori approach and decided to set his camera up in a children's house (3 to 6 years of age) in the oldest Montessori school in France. Alexandre was warmly welcomed in a surprisingly calm and peaceful environment, filled with flowers, fruits and Montessori materials. He met happy children, who were free to move about, working alone or in small groups. The teacher remained very discreet. Some children were reading, others were making bread, doing division, laughing or sleeping. The children guided the film director throughout the whole school year, helping him to understand the magic of their autonomy and self-esteem - the seeds of a new society of peace and freedom, which Maria Montessori dedicated her life work to.

Everybody knew(es)

In 2023, the Ombudsman presented a report on sexual abuse in the Church in Spain. Victims' accounts reached the European Parliament. Among them were the abuse suffered by two brothers at the boarding school where they attended as children.

Little Girl(fr)

7-year-old Sasha has always known that she is a girl. Sasha’s family has recently accepted her gender identity, embracing their daughter for who she truly is while working to confront outdated norms and find affirmation in a small community of rural France.

What You’ll Remember(en)

Homelessness in the United States takes many forms. For Elizabeth Herrera, David Lima and their four children, housing instability has meant moving between unsafe apartments, motels, relatives’ couches, shelters, the streets and their car. After 15 years of this uncertainty, the family moved into their first stable housing — an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area — in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

Enfants de Daech, les damnés de la guerre(fr)

Welcome Home Freckles(ko)

After four years away, Huiju returns home to South Korea. Exchanges with her loved ones are awkward and clumsy. Huiju turns once again to her familiar rituals: pruning the trees, preparing a sauce, tying a braid.

Carnations(en)

Seven strangers are interviewed to talk about the relationship they have with their mother.

Soy(es)

The Song of the Years to Come(es)

On the island of La Gomera, children imagine stories while they examine archeological remains. An ethno-fictional journey in which past and present coalesce, creating resonances between the volcanic landscape and Silbo, the whistled language of the island.

And Yet We're Not Super Heroes(fr)

It takes time to grow up. And sometimes you even wonder if it’s really worth it… Then the children move slowly, at their own pace, the time to tame the world that awaits them. On the way, they ask questions and invent answers using their overflowing imagination.

All this Roughness(es)

An unnamed passer-by is forced to trace a circular route inside an abandoned tram station, facing loss and time. The broken walls act as a channel, transmitting fragmentary, blurred and analogical memories. 

Those, revealed on the walls, in a touch(ml)

A short documentary on a grandson returning home to visit his aging grandmother who was crying to see him on the phone.

Mi pesadilla fue que me mataba la guerrilla(es)

Surviving Cyclones(en)

Using film footage shot by the Genevese film director, Fernand Reymond, in Bangladesh in 1972, this documentary film describes the cyclone prevention programme drawn up by the governmental authorities and the League of Red Cross Societies. It particularly depicts the cyclone warning system set up to protect the population. (League Film Library Catalogue Supplement No. 2, p. 39)

China Blue(en)

"China Blue" is an engrossing documentary that tells the story of 3 teenage girls who leave their rural homes in China to come work for a factory that makes blue jeans.

The children trapped in Bangladesh's brothel village(en)

Daulatdia is an entire village in Bangladesh dedicated to prostitution. Every day, 1,600 trafficked, enslaved and abandoned women and girls sell themselves for £2 a time. In the midst of the trade live 300 children, many born in the village. Some will be groomed to be the future of the business like their mothers and grandmothers. With education programmes and support provided by Save The Children, a few may find their way out.

Between Earth & Sky(en)

For her entire professional life, renowned ecologist Nalini Nadkarni pioneered climbing techniques to study "what grows back” after an ecological disturbance in the rainforest canopy. Now, after surviving a life-threatening fall from a tree, she must turn her research question onto herself in order to understand the effects of disturbance and recovery throughout her life.