A new school is about to open in a “residence” under construction. It will be “green” and in the image of the new inhabitants who will arrive. Opposite her, the Jacques Prévert school, aged and scattered at the foot of the building’s bars, can’t make it. Parents are already wondering how to change their children’s school. The director, Zahia, played by Rachida Brakni, is desperate. How to avoid losses? To preserve the fragile social mix of her school? The answer will come from an incisive young teacher, Marion. An ecological school? Flea. It remains to convince the team.
A collective that has not chosen itself
“We wanted to show what institutes are today“Explains Hakim Zouhani. Carine May knows her work well as she has been practicing it for more than ten years, particularly in Aubervilliers and La Courneuve. “In this film I talk about everything I have been able to experience, about what can be seen in these suburbs of France. In the suburbs there are no means, but there are shock teams and families who trust us, which is not necessarily the case in the most exclusive neighborhoods. “
More than the teaching profession, the film is primarily interested in the collective work it entails. However, this team is heterogeneous and displays a gallery of very different characters, from the depressed to the eco-bobo teacher. “These are people who wouldn’t necessarily have met in other circumstances, but who are obligated to work together, like Jean-Pierre (Gilbert Melki) a Seid (Mourad Boudaoud) ”, underlines Carine May. They are also mostly young. And there are those who don’t have the vocation, like Fabrice, a retraining rapper played by Disiz.
–No fatalism
“For me, no character is fatalistic. People know very well what’s going on. But everyone is fighting on their own ladder to move borders and not be subject to social determinism“, Continues the director.
This is the case of those parents who see the arrival of a new school as an opportunity for their children to study. “In suburban cities, there are parents who bleed to put their children in the private sector. In the film, it is the audience that shoots the audience“, Souligne Hakim Zouhani.
This rejection of fatalism is what will also push Zahia to fight to avoid brain drain and attract “future little blonde heads“, A guarantee of social diversity in his school. “He is the character who most resembles usobserves Carine May. She can seem aggressive because she has so much anger and determination, and at the same time she is able to change things, to put herself on the level of a child, to know him by name.. “
–
Ecology: another way of teaching
“La Cour des miracoli” is carried out by the duo that this director forms with a new teacher, Marion (Anaïde Rozam) who comes from Puy-de-Dôme, with a passion for nature and the desire to pass it on.
“In early versions of the scenario, ecology was less present. And then, the covid passed through there and we realized that many school teachers were obliged to go out at least once a week.“, Souligne Hakim Zouhani.
If, in the film, Marion is directly inspired by Scandinavian methods, Carine May also refers to Célestin Freinet: “it is a method of public education that has existed for decades.“
Basically “what brought us is that until the boat sank, people keep saving themselves“, He summarizes.
Selected in Cannes where it premiered as part of the special screenings of the Cinéma de la Plage, the “Court of Miracles” will be released in cinemas this Wednesday 28 September.
