The documentary we’re opening next week at the Royal and Playhouse, I AM ELEVEN, is getting some very strong advance notice in New York. Australian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey traveled the world for six years talking with 11-year-olds to compose this insightful, funny and moving portrait of childhood. I AM ELEVEN explores the lives and thoughts of children from all around the world. It weaves together deeply personal and at times hilarious portraits of what it means to stand on the cusp between childhood and adolescence, that fleeting moment when childish naiveté has faded, yet teenaged self-consciousness has not yet taken hold. In the New York Daily News, film critic Graham Fuller called the film “stunning” and “an echo of Michael Apted’s 7-Up series.” In the New York Times, writer Neil Genzlinger began his review with “Sometimes the simplest of ideas can prove surprisingly engaging, and not so simple after all. A case in point is “I Am Eleven,” a charming documentary by Genevieve Bailey built of interviews with 11-year-olds in 15 countries.” Plus here’s a good feature article/interview with the filmmaker from today.com, in which Bailey describes how the challenges of making a first film were lessened by working with children: “’It stuck with me,’ she said. ‘I had no grants, no rich family members to pay for it. I saved my money to risk making this film. It was the kids’ optimism and belief in all things possible that rubbed off on me.’”
