

In the Makarenko public elementary school in the Paris outskirts, children want to learn and to be cheered while teachers know they do not only teach, they also educate. With care, tenacity and efforts, children are trained to become not only responsible citizens but also human beings.
Direction
Simon disappears completely—pure observational trust.
Editing
Patient rhythms that mirror actual childhood time.

Director
Claire Simon
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Claire Simon spent over a year embedded in this single classroom, shooting 200+ hours for a 105-minute film.
The school is named after Anton Makarenko, a Soviet educator whose 'pedagogy of the collective' still shapes French public education debates.