''Grandir'' is a 2013 first-person

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Dominique Cabrera Dominique Cabrera (born 21 December 1957) is a French film director. She has taught filmmaking at La Fémis and at Harvard University. Her film '' Nadia et les hippopotames'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film ...

. The film, whose working title was ''O Happy Days!'' (''Ô Heureux jours !''), is a follow-up to the filmmaker's 1995 film diary ''Tomorrow and Tomorrow Again'' (''Demain et encore demain''). In ''Grandir'', Cabrera expanded her diaristic approach, starting by filming family at her brother's wedding in Massachusetts. According to the filmmaker, this was a way of appreciating them more deeply, cherishing them while they're alive. From there, the filmmaker continued recording events and gatherings – holidays, births, and her father's funeral – in the hopes of grappling with family secrets, which might explain her anxiety and persistent insomnia. She also traveled to Algeria with her sister to investigate the mysterious conditions surrounding their mother's birth. Cabrera met one of the film's editors,

Isidore Bethel Isidore Bethel is a French-American filmmaker whom ''Filmmaker'' named one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in 2020. The films he edits, directs, and produces use filmmaking to make sense of overwhelming experiences and touch on recurr ...

, when she was a visiting professor in

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

's film program and advising his undergraduate thesis. Bethel also concurrently edited Cabrera's short film "Goat Milk," which focuses on grief and Cabrera's interactions with family living in Massachusetts.

Reception

''Grandir'' premiered at the

Cinéma du Réel Cinéma du Réel (Cinema of the Real) is an international documentary film festival organized by the BPI-Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library) in Paris and was founded in 1978. The festival presents about 200 films per ye ...

, where it won the festival's Potemkine Prize, before screening at the

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

International Film Festival and ACID Cannes. It received favorable press coverage from ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'', ''

Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic Desautez is dep ...

'', ''Critikat'', ''Culturopoing'', and ''Challenges''. Splendor Films released the film in theaters in France, and Potemkine Films released it on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

. The

Institut Français The Institut Français (French capitalization, Institut français; "French institute") is a French public industrial and commercial organization (EPIC). Started in 1907 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for promoting French, francophone as ...

in London screened ''Grandir'' in 2016. A 2021 retrospective of Cabrera's work at the Pompidou Center included the film with an introduction from fellow autobiographical filmmaker

Ross McElwee Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker known for his autobiographical films about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey that intersects with larger political or philosophical issues. His humorous an ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2914074 2013 films 2013 documentary films 2010s French-language films French documentary films 2010s English-language films 2010s French films