Leading Lights

Marie and Juliette leave their teaching jobs to open La Petite Ecole in the heart of Brussels, a place where children, without previous schooling and often living in exile, are welcomed. Setting aside formal learning, the pair offer time and space for the children to be children again, before they face the demands of school. The film follows their efforts and their research, forcing us to see the school system as a possible perpetuator of the oppression that affects us all.

Two Belgian teachers are trying to put in place an alternative space for refugee children who have no school experience. This nuanced, observational film brings a situated insight into the schooling system and its irrelevance for the children with war and migration background. The struggle of the protagonists, their dedication to invent new methods while keeping the dialogue with the existing institutions, is an expression of love, maybe the most appropriate for the times we live in. As one of them says in the film: "Autonomous means to be well connected to others."

Part of Feature Film Competition at Visions du Réel.