CPH:DOX 2025 – Elementary / Apprendre

In the hands of Claire Simon, the familiar always rises to new heights. Here we find ourselves in a primary school on the outskirts of Paris, in a culturally mixed working class neighbourhood. But it’s not a school like any other. In an underfunded system, it is a progressive exception where teachers are tireless superheroes who know that they are not only teaching, but educating young students to become human beings. Both religion and politics are discussed, and if a student sleeps in class, the idea is that the student probably needs sleep and should not be woken up or disturbed. With the same empathy, gentleness and sense of humour, Claire Simon observes the students in the midst of the small dramas and triumphs that unfold daily in the classroom and in the schoolyard. Stay for the grand finale: A phenomenal rendition of Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’.