The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet (The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet)
Directed by: Jean-Pierre JeunetCast list: Helena Bonham-Carter, Kyle Catlett, Robert Maillet, Judy Davis, Callum Keith Rennie, Dominique Pinon, Julian Richings, Niamh Wilson, Jakob Davies
Country: France, Canada
Year: 2013
Genres: Adventure / Action / Drama /
Runtime: 105 min.
Language of the film version shown in the current academic year: English version with subtitles in Catalan
T.S. Spivet lives on a ranch in Montana with his mother who is obsessed with the morphology of beetles, his father (a cowboy born a hundred years too late) and his 14 year-old sister who dreams of becoming Miss America. T.S. is a 10 year-old prodigy with a passion for cartography and scientific inventions. One day, he receives an unexpected call from the Smithsonian museum telling him that he is the winner of the very prestigious Baird prize for his discovery of the perpetual motion machine and that he is invited to a reception in his honor where he is expected to give a speech. Without telling anyone, he sets out on a freight train across the U.S.A. to reach Washington DC. There is also Layton, twin brother of T.S., who died in an accident involving a firearm in the family's barn, which no one ever speaks of. T.S. was with him, measuring the scale of the gunshots for an experiment, and he doesn't understand what happened.
Educational Grades: ##COMA####COMA####COMA##Upper Primary school##COMA##Secondary school, 12 to 14##COMA####COMA####COMA####COMA####COMA####COMA##
Subjects: Catalan language and literature / English language / Natural science and social sciences (Primary School) / Citizenship (Primary School) / Form class (Pastoral care) / Social Science, Geography and History / Citizenship (Secondary School) / Design and Technology / Literature / Contemporary world / Basque language /
Topics: education in human values / children, children’s rights / means of transportation and /or traffic safety education / human relations, psychology, sociology / family, family relationships / educational world, coeducation, teacher-student relationships / film adaptation of literary or graphic work /
Related News
Links
Book: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Official WebsiteChapter 1 of the book (pdf in Spanish)
Film script based on the book: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
Life on a ranch
The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet (pdf, chapter 14 in Spanish)
Ten Attempts at Creating Perpetual Motion Machine
Perpetual motion machines. Part 1
Perpetual motion machines. Part 2
Explore Beetles
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