Sounds Like Teen Spirit: A Popumentary

In the tradition of Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom, Sounds Like Teen Spirit: A Popumentary is a documentary that shows us the amazing ability kids have of making us laugh and their indomitable spirits.
When I was browsing through the TIFF programming book's Reel to Reel section, the name of this film hooked me instantly. I'll admit, being a total North American, I had never heard of the Eurovision Song Contest. After doing a little research on the subject and watching some hilarious clips of past competitions, I came to the understanding that it's kind of like American Idol, with a way bigger audience, and the contestants have to write and perform their own songs. This is no karaoke style contest, these people take this very seriously and they come from all of the active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. This documentary covered the 2007 competition for the Junior Eurovision Contest, in which kids between the ages of 10 and 15 do all of the writing and performing.

Director Jamie Jay Johnson spent weeks traveling and meeting the different contestants, and decided to profile the finalists from Cyprus, Belgium, Georgia and Bulgaria for the film. All of the kids are so much fun to watch: the Cypriot boy is so adorable and optimistic, even when he is being bullied at school for singing; the band from Belgium are so delightfully awkward and more interested in picking up boy/girlfriends than in performing; the Georgian girl had to go to the competition by herself because her mother couldn't afford to go; and the girl from Bulgaria was trying to get some love and attention from her aloof father. Unfortunately the finalists that were chosen for the film didn't win, but the Georgian girl came in fourth, which made her a national hero in her country. But it didn't matter that they didn't win, it was more about the personalities of the kids and how much they loved to perform.

The documentary was fun to watch and was completely charming. Yes, there could have been more clips from the actual competition to see some of the other contestants, especially the girl from the Ukraine; she was just so intense with her strip tease-esque performance. And the director had a bit of a political agenda, but over all, it was definitely one of my favorites of the festival - a total gem!