Centre Co-director Joshua Forstenzer will be talking about the film “The Class” at Philosophy in the Showroom.
When? 28th of Feburary at 18:00
Where? The Showroom, Sheffield, 15 Paternoster Row
What’s “The Class”? “Based on the 2006 novel of the same name (in French Entre les Murs) by François Bégaudeau. The novel is a semi-autobiographical account of Bégaudeau’s experiences as a secondary school teacher. The Class thus follows the year of a young teacher and the 25 socially and culturally diverse pupils aged 14 or 15 in inner-city Paris, to whom he seeks to impart French grammar, literature, and much else, with uneven results.” You can watch the trailer here.
What will we talk about? “Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, The Class, falls in a popular category of French movies of the late 90s and early 2000s where social divisions within French society are explored through the medium of young people. This film especially interrogates the purported notion that the universal values of the republique as they are brought to life in state schools can meaningfully help heal the harm caused by racial, social, cultural and economic inequalities. We will discuss what a genuinely egalitarian and democratic education might require of teachers and students.”
Philosophy at the Showroom is a series of sessions probing the philosophical questions raised by some of cinema’s most intriguing films, and discussing books that have philosophical themes (either philosophical texts, or other works that raise philosophical questions). Our obligations to others, heroism, death, and the functioning of the mind are just some of the themes these screenings and the book events have explored.
The talks will not presuppose any prior knowledge of philosophy, and we hope they will lead to the development of a thriving community of those interested in the subject in the city. Following the showing of the film, there will then be a short talk from a philosopher, and then general discussion. You will need to pay the usual Showroom ticket charge for seeing the film.
Centre for Engaged Philosophy 