| ETRE et AVOIR, Nicolas Philibert, July 31, 16.30
The most unvarnished cinematic portrait of childhood, Etre et Avoir/To Be and to Have documents with intimacy, grace and candor the daily goings-on at a one-room school in rural France.
The school's student body consists of a handful of older and younger children who are taught, in alternating shifts, by a kind, caring teacher named Georges Lopez, and Philibert's eavesdropping camera presents these kids without judgment and without over-sentimentalization, allowing their hilarious, touching and unpleasant everyday antics to speak for themselves.
From pint-sized JoJo struggling to remember that the number seven comes after six, to a family trying to help their math-challenged son finish his homework, the documentary captures virtually every aspect of being a kid (and being an adult around kids): the awkward and painful process of making friends, the discomfort of being reprimanded for misbehaving, the immature squabbling and jealousy found in peer interaction, the grown-up fear of accidentally neglecting or harming a child, and the awe-inspiring wonder of experiencing the world for the first time.
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