Ten teenagers from all corners of Quebec made a crazy, comically ambitious bet that, if I'm not mistaken, has never been seen here before: to document five years of high school step by step, all on camera. The result: Being a Teen, a 12-episode documentary series produced by KOTV, will air on Télé-Québec starting this Thursday.
Published at 1:18 am. Updated at 6:00 am.
We've watched the first three-hour episodes and we'll say it straight away: it's a cakewalk. Sometimes touching, tender or disturbing; We see these young people growing up before our eyes (growth curves to support them), how they live, dream, cry and laugh, from entering high school to their prom. While Living Through a Global Pandemic, This is Important to Remember (Episodes 5 to 8).
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Part of the team of the documentaries Being Ado, which is currently being presented on Télé-Québec: Benjamin, Loïc, Émy, Andreh, Noah, Rachel-Andrée and Victoria (absent: Mika, Ashley and Jean-Émilien)
Diversity is the focus: we alternate between a young person in Montreal-Nord here, then in Alma there, via Laval, Mashteuiatsh or Boucherville. A young participant lives on a farm. Two come from other countries (Syria and Rwanda). We can't imagine the logistical challenges of filming here.
Although everyone's realities are of course very different, several major issues come together: self-esteem, performance stress, identities, parental relationships, friendships, love and much more.
It's hard to remain indifferent to how far they've come, especially since the series isn't purely chronological, but cleverly offers a series of back-and-forths between the present (17 years) and the past (12 years), a matter of appreciation all of its upheavals are underway. Think: physically (some people really change their face!), psychologically, academically and of course emotionally.
Without filter
Hopes, disappointments, dreams, everything happens year after year and in all sincerity. The participants obviously have no filter and also present themselves with a haunting authenticity that only young adolescents can. “I don't tell my mother everything! “, one of them will even say with a laugh (gossip: he's the son of one of the three directors!), and tells him about his first sips of alcohol when he was around 13 years old. It gives you an idea of the tone.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The participants are used to confiding in each other (and director Marisol Aubé in the middle, listening to them), and it shows.
We met some of the lucky team (three young people were absent) earlier this week and no, if you want to know everything, they don't regret the adventure. At all. Asked, from time to time jokers, they answer our questions thoughtfully. They've gotten into the habit of confiding in each other, and it shows. “Life experience” is also openly welcomed by everyone.
Of course, sometimes they couldn't wait for “it to end” (“Respecting a commitment made at 11 or 12 without really knowing where it would lead us is difficult,” says Rachel-Andrée).
Émy suffered a bereavement in Secondary 3 and doesn't hide it: “It was difficult mentally, so I really didn't feel like adding cameras. » Nevertheless, she persevered and has no regrets: “I’m happy when I see that I’ve made it!” she congratulates herself. “And if someone can recognize themselves on one of our journeys, I think we have achieved something,” adds Rachel-Andrée, who underlines the extent to which adolescence represents a small “eternity” in the series. : “You start. If you come out as a little child and pick yourself up again, you're almost an adult at the end! »
Learn from teenagers
The idea for the project came about a few years ago when Ève Déziel's daughter (content producer) graduated from high school herself. A teacher filmed his class entering secondary school in order to broadcast the images five years later. The emotions in the room were palpable. “It planted seeds of something,” she remembers. When her now grown daughter left the house, Ève Déziel understood. “That’s what bored me: the youth. I have always loved youth. I love teenagers! I find them authentic, never boring! » And then this certainly crucial phase of life passes so quickly. Hence the somewhat crazy idea of filming about ten of them (and she incidentally praises the audacity of her production house) to illustrate this fundamental “transformation”.
Be careful, not in any way, but above all without judgment. By giving them a voice. Her. Only they, we will have understood. And obviously they appreciated it.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
We owe the original idea of the project to Ève Déziel, content producer.
It is always the teachers, psychologists or parents who talk about teenagers. At some point I'd rather we hear them!
Eve Deziel
Marisol Aubé, director (with Paul-Maxime Corbin and Pierre Gagnon), also hopes that this series “takes us back to what it is to be a teenager,” she concludes. Not that much has changed! […] It seems that adults tell themselves that things have changed so much that they are afraid of no longer connecting. […] But you have to remember what it's like to be a teenager! Because everyone can learn something from them,” she says.
So what exactly is it to be a teenager? In general: “test a lot, have experiences”, “a crucial time”, “find your place”, in short: “discover who you are.” […] and not what others expect from you…” answer our talkative interlocutors who have a lot to say on this topic.
“Being a Teen” airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Télé-Québec and re-airs Sundays at 4 p.m. Also available online: video.telequebec.tv