To Be and to Have Information & To Be and to Have Links at HealthHaven.com

To Be and To Have; (Être et avoir)
Directed by	Nicolas Philibert
Produced by	Gilles Sandoz
Starring	Georges Lopez
Music by	Philippe Hersant
Cinematography	Laurent Didier; Katell Djian; Hugues Gemignani; Nicolas Philibert
Editing by	Nicolas Philibert
Release date(s)	May 19, 2002
Running time	104 minutes
Country	France
Language	French

To Be and To Have (French: Être et avoir) is a 2002 French documentary film directed by Nicolas Philibert. It was screened out of competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

The documentary title literally translates as "To be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.

The film won the 2003 Sacramento French Film Festival Audience Prize and other awards.^[2]

Following the film's success and widespread viewing, Lopez, the principal personality in the documentary, sued director Nicolas Philibert, claiming he deserved a share of its €2 million profit. The French court rejected Lopez' claim. According to news reportage, French film unions warned that if Lopez had been successful it would have spelt "the death of the documentary, undermining the crucial principle that subjects should not be paid to participate".^[3]

After losing his claim Lopez stated that he, the children and their families had been misled by the film's production company

'We were misled. The production company told me and the children's families that they were making a small documentary about the phenomenon of the one-teacher village school and that the film would be used primarily for educational purposes.

'They said it would have a restricted screening and never discussed marketing the film to make it such a commercial venture.'

^[4]

[edit] References

^ "Festival de Cannes: To Be and to Have". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3158545/year/2002.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
^ Awards for Être et avoir
^ Amelia Gentleman (29 September 2004). "Defeat for teacher who sued over film profits". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1315116,00.html.
^ Amelia Gentleman (3 October 2004). "Film's fallen hero fights on for his class". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/03/film.france.

[edit] External links

Être et avoir at the Internet Movie Database
To Be and to Have at Allmovie
To Be and to Have at Rotten Tomatoes
To Be and to Have at Metacritic
To Be and to Have at Box Office Mojo

[festival-cannes.com-0] "Festival de Cannes: To Be and to Have". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3158545/year/2002.html. Retrieved 2009-11-03.

[1] Awards for Être et avoir

[2] Amelia Gentleman (29 September 2004). "Defeat for teacher who sued over film profits". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1315116,00.html.

[3] Amelia Gentleman (3 October 2004). "Film's fallen hero fights on for his class". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/03/film.france.

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