Recommended for A Level or equivalent level French
This study day aims to offer students the opportunity to see a recent film revisiting the themes of banlieue, urbanism and youth.
Isabelle Vanderschelden will introduce the film in French, providing relevant cultural and historical contextual information and some key vocabulary/phrases to discuss a film.
The screening will be followed by a range of exercises in French around the characters and main social themes of the film. The session will also address film style analysis and critical thinking on a film.
Led by Isabelle Vanderschelden, Independent film scholar and Educator, co-founder of Filta (Film in language teaching Association) and founder member of the Flame research group.
Screening: Gagarine (12A)
Dir Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh / France / 2020
98 mins / French with English Subtitles
Isolated, inventive 16-year-old Yuri (an astonishing performance from Bathily) has lived in Cité Gagarine – a vast red brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris – all his life. He dreams of becoming an astronaut, inspired by his and the Gagarine’s namesake: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, seen in 1960s archive footage opening the complex in a more optimistic age.
But now the Gagarine is in disrepair and when plans to demolish it are leaked, Yuri joins with friends Diana and Houssam in an attempt to save it – in a stunning, magical turn, transforming the estate into his very own ‘starship’.
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