Begaudeau, L: The Class

Winner of the Prix France Culture/T l rama prize, The Class explores timely issues of race, class, identity, colonial history, immigration, and education, "suspend ing] judgment and liberat ing] the raw words of kids in a deconsecrated classroom" (Le Monde). The novel's eponymous film version, directed by Laurent Cantet, starring author B gaudeau as himself, won the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.