6 February: French Year 12 Study day at BFI Southbank on New Wave and Contemporary cinema

Y12 really enjoyed this now annual event run by BFI Southbank, an introduction to contemporary French cinema through the Nouvelle Vague spirit and cinematic techniques.

The lectures, all in French, are linguistically accessible yet intellectually challenging, comparing clips from the likes of François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and Agnès Varda with other greats of contemporary French cinema to appreciate the huge influence of the Nouvelle Vague movement in 20th century cinema.

Lunchtime was a packed lunch by the river in the sun or in the Royal Festival Hall for those feeling the cold; students loved the plush seats of the NFT 1 cinema room and seeing so many other students from various schools studying French A level. It was very impactful to see film treated as an academic subject, and will have given students a flavour of studying film and media at a higher level, whether as part of a languages or English degree, or as a subject in its own right.

The afternoon was spent watching Céline Sciamma's beautiful yet harrowing film, Bande de Filles ('Girlhood', 2014), which highlights the experience of young women in the banlieues; it will serve as an interesting contrast to La Haine (1995) which they will be studying as a set text next year.