Récréations (Playtime)

Claire Simon uses her camera to follow the goings-on in her young daughter's kindergarten as she whirls around the tarmac schoolyard with other pre-schoolers at break time. The children vacillate between a commanding tone and caring behaviour as they re-enact the lives of adults, acting more brutally and directly than their supposed role models. They play with whatever is available, small twigs or a barrier fence; imagination is the most important ingredient. ‘Life is beautiful,’ shouts a child in between. The director does not intervene, observing how the children make up stories and constantly change them to suit their own needs and negotiate with each other, as if they were revising scripts until they are satisfied with the result. The roles in this lesson in social interaction are constantly being redistributed. (Andrea Pollach)

In the presence of Claire Simon on 17.1.2025

Photo: Austrian Film Museum