University News Last updated 12 June 2013
A former student at Birmingham School of Media, part of Birmingham City University, is celebrating after having his documentary film commissioned by France Télévisions as part of its plans to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Gautier Dubois, from Bordeaux in France, graduated from Birmingham School of Media in 2011 with a degree in International Broadcast Journalism. A delighted Gautier, who described France TV as ‘the equivalent of the BBC’, is the documentary’s co-author and will work on the production of the film as Assistant Director.
The film is about the brainwashing from 1880 of French primary school children with the aim of producing a generation prepared to serve in the army and to win back territories in eastern France that had been lost to the Germans in the Franco-Prussian war - with that fight becoming a reality with the outbreak of the First World War.
The film takes its title, ‘Allons enfants…’ from the opening words of the French national Anthem, ‘La Marseillaise’. “I'm very proud of it and will be involved in the writing as well as the shooting of the film,” Gautier said.
Shooting will take place later this year and the documentary will be shown in July 2014 as part of France Télévisions’ plans to mark the centenary of the First World War. The documentary will also be shown in primary schools across France.