Originally from Saint-Aubin-sur-Quillebeuf, Hugo Dutrait, 19, a law student, is a presenter for Espace Normandie radio, after winning the 2021 Médiatiks national prize. He won this prize as part of the media workshop in his high school for a report on the "Global Security" law. The committed young man has also already created his company DH Production, a medium for the creation and distribution of his documentaries including "The evil in power" on the rise of Nazism or "The right to die" on euthanasia. This summer, the young Eurois will shoot his new film on bullying, a subject he knows intimately.
The France has nearly 700,000 students who are bullied each year, according to UNICEF. Among them, Hugo Dutrait remembers his arrival at the college, "the beatings and insults, the confrontation with his harassers, the silence of the establishment and the years of psychotherapy. School bullying was therefore imposed on me for my next documentary, because we have to talk about this subject of society. I knew this had to happen to finalize a chapter of my journey. I needed to take stock of the situation, to go out into the field to see what is happening as a form of therapy. Seeing that I am not alone and what saddens me is that in 2023, this continues. So I want to give the floor and take a step back."
Thus, the director who wants to become a lawyer to defend the harassed and the families started from the observation that "the school bullying that has always existed starts from mockery and always goes crescendo. Today, this is amplified with social networks and the victim takes him home. It is no longer enough to turn off the device. The Internet does not forget and networks are crucial for the social life of our youth. Often parents are warned very late and blame themselves before stepping up to the plate. It would then be necessary to listen to the National Education. That victims have confidence in school leaders to stem the scourge." From that moment, with a collaborator, Hugo Dutrait took his microphone and his camera.
Awareness
As early as September 2022, through social networks, Hugo Dutrait launched calls for testimonies. He very quickly found witnesses from Cap d'Agde, Alsace, Tours, Eure and elsewhere "whose stories we checked. We have about thirty at the moment. Then, we worked with experts including Erwan Balanant, the deputy of the 8th constituency of Finistère and rapporteur on the law against harassment, psychologists, essayists, associations, etc. We have consulted the Ministry of Education, in particular with teachers and school heads, without response for the moment. Be careful, I claim total neutrality. I want to make the general state of school bullying by giving a voice to victims. We want this documentary to have a national influence as a global awareness. This is a subject close to the heart of the French."
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Filming will take place this summer before editing and mixing in September and October 2023. "The film should initially be released in the Noé Cinémas group in early 2024. On the other hand, I know that the documentary will not please everyone. I already feel pressure following the first articles in the press and I had to remove my collaborator to protect him. I want to show that there is no profile of the harassed and the harasser. That there are factors, but potentially all young people can fall into one or the other of the categories. This spiral of harassment must be stopped. There is no innocuous word or gesture. And here, the school is not intended to replace parents, but to teach us to live and interact together, "says Hugo Dutrait.