Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

‘Monsieur Lazhar’, nominated for the Best Foreign film at the 2012 Oscars, is a French Canadian comedy drama which starts with a tragedy. An eleven year old boy discovers his teacher has committed suicide in the classroom. Monsieur Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant to Canada, reads about this in the paper and presents himself at the school as a substitute teacher for the class, claiming twenty years experience back in Algeria.

The film then follows the class through the next six months, watching them get over the shock of the suicide and Lazhar learning how to teach them. But there are other secrets to unfold in his life...

This is a small-life drama, which ‘you could almost describe as a morality tale, but it’s more thought-provoking than debate-provoking, its strength is the realness of the emotions and authenticity of the detail’ - Cath Clarke, Time Out