Playground (2022)
Director: Laura Wandel Run Time: 72 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2021
Starring: Günter Duret, Karim Leklou, Laura Verlinden, Maya Vanderbeque, Thao Maerten
Country: Belgium
Language: French
Presented at the Film Center and in our Virtual Screening Room
“plunges headlong into the world of school-aged children and observes their dynamics with chilling precision”
—Lovia Gyarkye for The Hollywood Reporter
About the film:
FIPRESCI Prize winner in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. When Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him by warning their father. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora will ultimately try to find her place, torn between children’s and adult’s worlds.
Laura Wandel’s Playground was selected as Belgium’s entry for Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards.
About the filmmaker:
Laura Wandel is a Belgian director and screenwriter who has crafted well-received short films including 2010’s O Négatif and the 2014 Cannes Film Festival selection Les corps étrangers. After studying film at Belgium’s Institute of Broadcasting Arts, she accompanied her graduation film, the 2007 short Walls, to various festivals around the world and worked as an assistant, stage manager, costume designer and casting assistant.
In Wandel’s feature debut Playground, the everyday reality of grade school is seen filmed from a child’s-eye-view. Read more from the filmmaker here.
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