''Sounds Like Teen Spirit'' (also known as ''Sounds Like Teen Spirit: A Popumentary'') is a 2008 documentary and debut feature film of Bafta-Award nominated director Jamie Jay Johnson. It was shown at the

Toronto International Film Festival 2008 Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

and was premiered in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, Belgium and

Limassol Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

where the 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held.

Plot

It follows the lives of the participants of the

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the fifth edition of the annual Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the Ahoy indoor sporting arena in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 8 December. The host country was chosen by the European Bro ...

, specifically the entrants from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The film sees them proceed from the national finals that saw them crowned the representatives of their country through to the international song festival itself held in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, where they each compete against 16 other acts.

Critical reception

The film was exceptionally well received by critics receiving an 87% 'fresh' rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Director Johnson was praised for his 'crowdpleasing' debut and his success in getting the participants to 'open-up' on camera. In the 2009 Dinard British Film Festival in Brittany, France 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' played in competition and won the prestigious 'Hitchcock D’Argent' Audience Award. In the Seattle International film festival 2009 the film won a Special Jury Award and was highly commended by the jury "for excellence in capturing the universal experience of young adults discovering their place in the world". ''Sounds Like Teen Spirit'' was also nominated for a British Independent Film Award in the 'Best Documentary' category.

References

External links

Director's website ''Sounds Like Teen Spirit''
at

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

''Sounds Like Teen Spirit''
at British Council–Film
''Sounds Like Teen Spirit''
at Lumiere * 2008 films Documentary films about singers Films about competitions Junior Eurovision Song Contest Films produced by Elizabeth Karlsen Number 9 Films films British documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{UK-documentary-film-stub