by REBECCA SPARROW
Can you remember being eleven? Not quite a child anymore. Not yet a teen.
I was eleven in 1983. I had a crush on Brendan Windsor. I wore Dunlop Volleys. I played netball. And watched Young Talent Time. I dreamed of meeting Olivia Newton John. I still secretly played with my Barbies. I had a fondness, clearly, for dropped waist dresses and red hair-bands. (What the hell am I wearing in that photo? It’s beginning to become clear to me why Brendan was more interested in Rachael Lowe at the time ….)
Aussie filmmaker Genevieve Bailey remembers being eleven too – it was the happiest year of her childhood. That’s why she’s made I AM ELEVEN – a doco that’s winning a swag of awards because it’s touching and poignant and funny and, you know, utterly brilliant. From India to Morocco, Bangkok to Amsterdam, from the Upper East Side of New York to Gen’s hometown of Melbourne, I AM ELEVEN takes us to 15 countries exploring the world today through the eyes of today’s eleven-year-olds. Chrissie Swan, Jane Hall and Claudia Karvan all fell in love with the film and have become unofficial ambassadors for it.
Take a look at the I AM ELEVEN trailer and you’ll see why …
I AM ELEVEN is screening in selected cinemas around the country so go catch it before it disappears.
For more details go here or here.
Do you remember being eleven? What year was it and what was your life like?
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I was the oldest of 4 children with an autistic mother suffering post natal depression when I was eleven (the baby was one). I ran the house while she yelled instructions from a chair in the lounge, but otherwise she didn't talk. We had no tv (in 1988!), and I had very few friends, most kids thought I was pretty weird since I mostly kept to myself. I played netball, rode my horse (yeah, I know life was not all bad!), and listed to old Queen vinyls. I have no idea what I wore, we don't really have any photos from that time. I was quite a tomboy, and spent as much time as I could outside (escaping?) the house.
Bec, again, thank you SO much for this post. I went to see this today and it's a film which will stay with me forever. A little like the 7Up, 14Up etc series but unique in its own way. Thought-provoking, funny, and made me want to find out exactly how to donate to the Indian orphanage called Our Home.
Love love LOVE it and can't recommend it highly enough. And I wouldn't have heard about it but for this post x
Where did you see this? We want to go but all the cinemas (Sydney) seem to have finished screening it as it was released July last year.