Writing Life – Annie Ernaux Through The Eyes of High School Students (2025)

Claire Simon | France | 2025 | 90 min | NC16 | (Sexual References) The classrooms of a new generation transform into vibrant forums inspired by Annie Ernaux’s powerful writing and open dialogue. This film screening is jointly presented by SGIFF with the vOilah! French Film Festival, and is supported by the Institut Français and the Embassy of France in Singapore (Ambassade de France à Singapour). An alternative portrait of writer and Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, whose work is seen by many as a source of individual and collective liberation, and mingles the intimate with the universal, this film explores how her literature continues to shape and inspire a new generation. In the classrooms of cities and suburbs across France and beyond, students read and respond to Ernaux’s unflinching prose, sparking candid conversations about identity, gender, love and social class. Filmmaker Claire Simon captures these spontaneous exchanges with subtlety and care, revealing how literature can awaken awareness, challenge social norms and foster new ways of seeing the world.