Sounds Like Teen Spirit

I first heard of 'Sounds Like Teen Spirit' the documentary film about the Junior Eurovision contest when I saw an advert splashed across the back of Time Out magazine. Unexpectedly, I got the chance to see it at a free screening last night and with previous fond memories of the competition (stumbling across the show on ITV on a wet, boring Sunday afternoon as a student in Norwich where my housemate and I laughed so much that we nearly rolled off of the sofa) I jumped at the chance.

Essentially the film follows a selection of entrants from the moment they are selected to represent their countries to the big show itself. So much of adult Eurovision coverage in Britain is mocking but this film strickes a beautiful balance between light-heartedness and genuine care for the children they are following. Many of the children competing are well-off but some, especially Mariam from Georgia are from extremely modest backgrounds (her mother cannot afford to travel to the contest and so watches her daughter perform via a flickering, snow-storm TV, whose aerial is fixed in place with sellotape).

By the end of the film I felt a great deal of empathy and fondness for the children. Previously, I had assumed that the sort of kids who entered Eurovision were the unfortunate guinea pigs of over-ambitious parents but I learnt that Bulgarian Marina was desperate to attract the attention of her millionaire father in the hope that he would return to the wife and family he had recently walked out on for a younger woman and Georgian Mariam was a humble girl who carried the hopes of a small country desperate to make a mark in the world and escape the dominating influence of it's neighbour Russia.

I absolutely enjoyed the film and 24 hours later find myself still emotionally tied up with it's protagonists. It was moving and funny and, most of all, reminded me intensely about how it felt to be a teenager. This film true deserves to be seen.