Curator’s Statement
I chose this topic on childhood because it is universal.
Everywhere in the world, children are born equal with the same innocence but from their first cry of life, all will not have the same opportunities to flourish. This innocence is very quickly altered by the social and/or political context. A child has no choice; it must, all by itself, grasp reality as it is and often without explanations from adults: more remains unsaid than answers their questions. No words to channel the suffering that is originally not theirs. Nevertheless, children always find guidelines, despite everything, to make themselves a place in the universe where they grow up.
Certainly, more and more, children’s right are being recognized, integrated into legislations, but it is also and above all a matter of education. Laws can help but they do not change attitudes.
Five shorts showing children’s carefreeness in a world that does not belong to them but that they have to live in and face up to daily much too early. There is the young Palestinian who does not understand his father’s pain but absolutely wants to help him; there is Amal, the little Moroccan girl that sees her dreams crushed; the Lebanese children caught up in the war; the little girl that wonders about the absence of her father; and finally the young Palestinian who plays with his gazelle and forgets about reality, his father saying nothing but giving him a lesson for life.
A tribute to children because I think that much too often we forget to involve them in cultural events, a tribute to children because they are our future.
Everywhere in the world, children are born equal with the same innocence but from their first cry of life, all will not have the same opportunities to flourish. This innocence is very quickly altered by the social and/or political context. A child has no choice; it must, all by itself, grasp reality as it is and often without explanations from adults: more remains unsaid than answers their questions. No words to channel the suffering that is originally not theirs. Nevertheless, children always find guidelines, despite everything, to make themselves a place in the universe where they grow up.
Certainly, more and more, children’s right are being recognized, integrated into legislations, but it is also and above all a matter of education. Laws can help but they do not change attitudes.
Five shorts showing children’s carefreeness in a world that does not belong to them but that they have to live in and face up to daily much too early. There is the young Palestinian who does not understand his father’s pain but absolutely wants to help him; there is Amal, the little Moroccan girl that sees her dreams crushed; the Lebanese children caught up in the war; the little girl that wonders about the absence of her father; and finally the young Palestinian who plays with his gazelle and forgets about reality, his father saying nothing but giving him a lesson for life.
A tribute to children because I think that much too often we forget to involve them in cultural events, a tribute to children because they are our future.
Biography
Nadira Ardjoun has been the co-organizer of the International Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand, France, since 1985.
