Le Goncourt des lycéens

Genre: Documentaire
Duration: 52′
Director(s): Xavier de Lauzanne
Producer(s): François-Hugues de Vaumas, Xavier de Lauzanne
Production: Aloest Productions, France 3 Ouest, TV Rennes 35, Rennes Cité Media
DVD Editor: Aloest Productions
TV Broadcasting: France 3

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How to give teenagers the desire to read at a time where distractions are everywhere and easier ? How do you talk about literature without being bored ? How could we show modern literature is still alive ?

That’s exactly what the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens (High Schoolers’ Goncourt Book Prize) and this film mean. By showing the point of view of high schoolers’ who accepted to turn into a jury for the occasion, this film proves that literature still has a bright future ahead. Because when they were given a challenge (to read all the 13 books of selected for the Goncourt Prize in less than two months) and they took it up, even partly, they find themselves being much bigger “readers” than they ever would have imagined. “Le Goncourt des Lycéens” tells the story of the French and foreign teenagers who for two months (from september to november) read and elect their winner among the dozen books selected by the prestigious Goncourt academy.

Two months of reading and discoveries during which these young people from 15 to 18 drop their screens, their cell phones, their PlayStations to read the greater works of contemporary literature. Working with their teachers and librarians, meeting the author for some, learning how to debate and to reason, these seconde (10th grade), première (11th grade), terminale (12th grade) and technical high school students entered the world of literary prizes the main way : by becoming jury members for a prize. Our camera followed the group of teenagers for the 19th edition of this prize, which is causing more and more of a buzz in bookstores. A film that will make you feel like reading.