ONCE IN A LIFETIME
| 2016 – 105′ – Drama, History, Coming of Age, War.
Written by: Ahmed Dramé, Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar.
Directed by: Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar.
Starring: Ariane Ascaride, Ahmed Dramé, Noémie Merlant, Geneviève Mnich, Wendy Nieto, Aïmen Derriachi, Mohamed Seddiki, Stéphane Bak.
César Award 2016 Nomination for Best Promising Actor (Ahmed Dramé).
Official Competition COLCOA 2015 (Audience Special Prize winner).
In French with English subtitles.
A Menemsha Films release. |
At the Leon Blum High School, history teacher Anne Gueguen has to face her worst nightmare, a classroom full of distracted and unruly school “rejects” – the ones other teachers have given up on. This racially and religiously diverse group of struggling but tough inner-city kids seem to only agree on one thing: history is a boring subject with no relevance in their everyday lives. Anne has a quality that these students don’t encounter often – she actually cares about them, and she has an idea that she hopes will inspire them. Over the objections of the head of the school, she challenges the class to enter a national history contest with a project on Children and Teenage victims of the Nazi Regime. It’s a long shot at best, because the contest is usually won by more dedicated students from better schools, but a visit from a special guest gives them a fighting chance. Based on a true story, this inspirational drama was co-written by twenty-one year old Ahmed Dramé, who was part of the original class, and plays Malik in the film.