Miss Kiet's Children

Do you remember Nicolas Philibert's French documentary 'To Be and to Have' from 2004? The film's topic has been given a new lease of life and a more contemporary perspective through the delicate and very touching documentary 'Miss Kiet's Children', which over the course of one year closeyl follows everyday in a Dutch school for asylum-seeking children. Here, children from countries like Syria and Iraq come to a new life and a language they don't yet understand. Their souls are scarred at much too early an age, but in the classroom they are allowed to learn and play under the loving but disciplined supervision of the experienced school teacher, Miss Kiet. But she is only a supporting character in this observant documentary, where the perspective is the children's, and the true protagonists are the small Leanne, the feisty Haya and the traumatised Jorj, who steal both the image and our hearts. The pupils don't only learn to read, count and write – they also learn to help each other, talk together and understand the challenges that they must jointly overcome in the Dutch classroom.