Sandrine Brodeut-Desrosiers, Canada 2022
Twelve-year-old Justine hangs out with her sixth-grade friends: Guillaume (Louka Belánger-Leos), Theo (Liam Patenaude), and Claudia (Charlie Fortier). She is considering participating in a talent contest. However, her main interest are her parents: they argue constantly, about nothing. Justine suggests a solution: divorce, which surprises the parents. If the parents take no initiative, then it’s up to Justine carry it out. She submits a divorce application at the official Court of Justice, but it is not accepted. No problem. Justine creates a Youth Court, which is a creative idea for the talent contest. Her friends help by being “on the jury.” And her parents actually show up for the case.
This fun movie revolves around a serious topic, to which many young people could relate. We learn that harmony in the family is important. Justine seriously attempts to solve the matter, but she is also jolly, constantly riding around with her friends on skateboards, eating bad - and then good – pizza. She also sees the “good” side of divorce. Guillaume has a different problem: his mother is deceased, and he must care for his father. This Canadian film is in French and stars five wonderful young actors who play their first, or first major, role in a film. The young people on stage in charge of introducing and discussing the film, leading questions from the audience in German and answers from the film makers in French, were excellently bilingual. They were students from Hamburg’s French school: the French Ecole Francaise de Hambourg, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. ()