It is a documentary project on an unprecedented scale in Quebec: a film team followed ten young people for five years, from their entry into high school until their graduation. We discover them very young, children, and we see them become young adults. We laugh, we cry, we sometimes want to hug them. Or give them a little slap on the wrist when they do something stupid.
The duty watched the first of 12 episodes with the creators of the series a few days ago, in a room at Télé-Québec. We heard “ooohs”, “aaahs”, and a few tears were shed. The young people were proud to see themselves on screen. And to have persevered during the five years of filming, between the years 2018 and 2023.
“You were daring to take on this challenge. It was quite a commitment to carry out this project,” said Nadine Dufour, vice-president of content at Télé-Québec — where Being a teenager will go on air from January 11, 2024.
This extraordinary series required the unfailing determination of the ten young people, their parents and the entire film crew. The director, Marisol Aubé, the creator of the project, Ève Déziel, and the other members of the team had access to the intimacy of these adolescents over a period rarely seen in a Quebec documentary.
“They confided beyond what they had imagined, as if they had forgotten the camera. But if they are not comfortable with a scene being broadcast, we do not put it on screen,” explains Ève Déziel.
The first episode contains some teenage gems. “People kid me, I find them stupid. » “I don’t think I’m very pretty. One time in ten, I don’t find myself any worse. » « What the fuck, man ? » In general, the participants still demonstrate an astonishing maturity.
The ten teenagers discover their sexuality, their identity, their strengths, their weaknesses. They go through trials. A pandemic, for example. And other hard blows: mourning for a cousin in tragic circumstances, mourning for a united family, mourning for perfect health, mourning for a former life in a country where war broke out. They are strong, these young people. Some would say they are “resilient.” Endearing, too.
Live transformations
“The series led us to think deeply about ourselves and our lives,” says Andreh, who arrived in Quebec at the age of eight with his family in 2014, after fleeing war-torn Syria.
In the film, he says that amid the bombs and bullet holes in the walls in Syria, his greatest fear was losing his laptop — and not being able to continue playing games. Fortnite. Andreh had cut himself off from his emotions to survive the shock of war. Today he realizes the extent of his trauma of having left a comfortable life, in the suburbs of Damascus, to start from scratch in a small apartment in Saint-Laurent, north of Montreal. He doesn’t even have his own drawer to store his things.
The participants come from different backgrounds: from the suburbs, from the countryside, from wealthy families, from the middle or working class. They never met during filming (except two of them, who are friends). They did not have access to the images during the five years of the project. They met in a chalet in October. They watched the first five episodes of the series together.
The images show the physical and mental metamorphosis that occurs between the start and end of secondary school: “Adolescence is testing. You test everything. You try new things,” says one of the young people in the film.
With their braces, their flabby mustaches, their overly long arms or their occasional acne, they are adorable.
“I see myself on the screen at 12 years old and I say to myself: ‘That’s not me anymore’,” testifies Rachel-Andrée, who lives in Alma, in Lac-Saint-Jean, with her mother. She has no contact with her biological father. His father figure is his grandfather. Rachel-Andrée says in the film that the happiest day of her life was when her grandfather was cured of cancer.
Obstacles to overcome
Noah, from Laval, also lives with the wound of an absent father. He agreed to speak on camera over a period of five years in the hope that his father would see him grow up. He dreams of becoming a doctor.
Young people always manage to overcome obstacles. Diabetic, Mika can’t wait to be able to inject insulin himself. Émy manages to get into a sports-study program in judo after an initial refusal. Benjamin recovers after a concussion. Also slowed by a concussion – and a pandemic – Loïc persists in playing hockey even if he estimates his chances of making it to the National League at “0.09%”.
Ashley Deborah, who found herself in a French immersion class upon arriving in Montreal North directly from Rwanda, also proves the extraordinary capacity of young people to adapt. Mature, resourceful, she redoubled her efforts to one day found her own clothing brand. All the while dreaming of seeing his father again, who remained in his country of origin.
Jean-Émilien, a shy boy from the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh, in Lac-Saint-Jean, wants to become the first member of his family to obtain a high school diploma. He fears being bullied because he is different from the other students. He dreams of becoming a police officer, then a cook. His father is weakened by illness. Like most young people his age, he loves video games. A little too much, no doubt.
Victoria gets up at 5 a.m. to take care of the goats on one of the family farms, before going to school. She works almost all the time. And she loves it. She leads a “dream life” with her brothers and sisters, her parents, the goats and the horses.
The project of a lifetime
Implicitly, we also see the challenge of being parents. They love them, their children. But we rarely hear them. The film gives a voice to teenagers. They are the heroes of the project.
“We think that this series is a way of getting young people back into Quebec television,” says Louis Morissette, of KOTV Inc., which produced the series. He had to insist that his 14-year-old daughter watch the series, but she quickly became hooked.
This extraordinary project was an act of faith: the producer found a broadcaster three and a half years after the start of the adventure. No less than 150 days of filming and two and a half years of editing were necessary to produce 12 episodes. “It’s the project of a lifetime. A colossal job. A giga-puzzle. But we managed it,” summarizes director Marisol Aubé.