11 Questions for Genevieve Bailey, Director of I AM ELEVEN

Tickets on Sale NOW

AMC Metreon 16, San Francisco

Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael

The New Parkway Theatre, Oakland

Genevieve Bailey’s award-winning documentary, I AM ELEVEN, opens this week in theaters across the Bay Area. Don’t miss this beautiful, deeply personal and at times hilarious film of what it means to stand on the cusp between childhood and adolescence. I extremely excited to share an exclusive interview with award winning film director, Genevieve Bailey.

Can you tell me what Genevieve Bailey was like at 11? Did something specifically happen, or not happen, at 11 that made you love that year of your life over 10 or 12?

I was similar to who I am now. When I was 11, I went from primary to high school. I was young in my class but I love that transition because I went from being a big fish in a small pond to being a small fish in a big pond. Suddenly I had hundreds of kids to meet and hundreds of new relationships to form.

I still love dogs, dancing, people, I’m very social, congenial, interested in the environment and other cultures. Like I said in the film, when I was 11, I felt the world was big in a good way. I became very interested in learning the capital city of every country I could and learning about other cultures. Even though I never left my city of Melbourne, I was interested in the wide world. Sometimes people reflect on the time they were 11 and that they are still, at heart, very much who they were at 11. That’s true for me.

Another reason why it was my favorite age was because my dad, who worked for the government as a public servant, was made redundant. He was home for 1 year which meant he would drive me to school, take me to basketball training, and sew sequins on my dance costumes. He was very present. When I was 22 my dad passed away, only 11 years later. I look back to 11 as being very special where I got to spend a lot of time with my dad.

In the movie you said that at the time you conceived “I Am Eleven” you were 23 years old and going through depression stemming from a bad car accident, the loss of your father, and devastating global images from the Asian tsunami during your time working for a major newspaper in Australia. I found it so interesting that at 23 you decided to channel that energy to something as risky as making a movie. How did that feeling help drive you to the idea of making an uplifting movie about 11 year olds around the globe? Did making the movie help you deal with your depression?

Like anyone having a rough time in life the idea of having a purpose can really help you to turn things around and for me I saw a real need for a film like this. Part of the reason I wanted to make I AM ELEVEN is because it is the sort of film that I would want to see and I believe other people would want to see it too. We see so much negativity in the media, not just the newspapers but in television and cinema where there is so much violence. You put on the television and you see people doing horrible things to each other and it’s presented as entertainment. I had a problem with that and thought I want to make something that makes me and audiences happy. And I wanted this film to not just be fun but also entertaining and insightful and to shed light on how children are seeing the world all over the world which is why I didn’t make a film about just Australian kids, English kids, or American kids. I really wanted to take the audience on trip around the world and reconnect them with their inner child.

There were so many layers that led me to create this film. I didn’t have any funds or grants or wealthy parents paying for my film. I just had this belief that it was worth a shot and the giant 11 year old in me likes to jump into things rather then worrying about how hard it will be. It has been a huge part of my life and there have been plenty of hurdles and challenges along the way but the kids inspired me so much that I realized the resilience and perspective that I learned from those kids has really inspired me and helped me make the film as big as I could possibly make it.

You went to 15 countries in your movie and shot 22 kids. How did you come to choose these countries and situations (orphanage in India, elephant sanctuary in Thailand, Jewish girl in New Jersey, etc.)?

I decided early on that the easiest way to find 11 year olds would be to go to schools since that is where they are hanging out everyday. But I worried that schools might offer up kids with the best grades or acting experience. Even though those kids would have been interesting, I didn’t need the kids to have those backgrounds.

I had three rules. My first rule was that they had to be 11; my second rule was that they had to want to be involved; and the third rule was that the parent or guardian gave permission for them to be involved. But other then that I was open to any kid because I knew they all had something to offer.

So, I decided to do it in a much more random way. I hit streets, went to market places, talked to people in book stores, bus stop and ask people “Do you know any 11 year olds around here?” It was a very unconventional way to produce a film. I produced, shot, edited, I had so many roles in this film. I became really comfortable with approaching strangers. Every story about how I found each kid is different and some are really funny and some situations were more strenuous but at the end of the day I didn’t leave the country until I interviewed an eleven year old there first. Can you tell me about one of the funniest ones? I went into a book store in Berlin, Germany and asked the lady “Do you have any kids?” She said, “Yes, I have a 10 and 12 year old, why?” and I said “I am looking for 11 year olds.” And she said that there was a book published last year called “10 in Berlin” and it was 10 photographs of 10, 10 year-olds in Berlin. She said “That book was published last year so they are all 11 now and my friend published it so just pick a kid.” I opened the book and I said “What about her?” and she said “She lives right across the street from the book store.” I thought what are the chances of that happening.

Did you have a favorite country you’d like to return to? A country you missed? Was there a child you had a special connection with?

Audiences always ask me who was your favorite kid. When I was a kid I asked my mom who was her favorite out of all of her kids in the family. And her response was “Mothers don’t have favorites, we love all our kids equally.” And I feel like that in the film, all the kids inspired me and have provided insight into their life in different ways so I love them all for different reasons. But I would say that audience favorites are Billy from London and Remi from the South of France. For me, I enjoyed all of them and want to go back and see any of them when ever I can.

I particularly loved to photograph in India. I’ve been back to India every year since we shot there and the kids there are like nephews and nieces to us. We’ve been doing a lot to help raise support for them. We created a foundation to help the kids in India and disadvantaged children around the world called ♥ The Darlingheart Foundation ♥.

more at Ronnie’s Awesome List.