Jamie J Johnson on Sounds Like Teen Spirit

If you’re expecting Sounds Like Teen Spirit to be anything about the 90s grunge scene you’ll be sorely disappointed. It couldn’t be further removed; Jamie J Johnson’s debut documentary is a delightful foray into the garish and hilarious world of the Junior Eurovision song contest. A phenomenon that appears to have bypassed the UK, it sees kids aged 10 to 15 from across Europe battle it out for the chance to win the coveted title of Junior Eurovision champion for their country. The emotions are high, the costumes loud and the dance routines just plain ridiculous but Johnson’s charming film captures the humour and poignancy of the children he follows with an unpatronising gaze. One memorable scene sees the Cypriot entry Giorgos and his sister on the eve of the competition, scurrying around their house in what appears to be last minute packing. Johnson’s camera follows their actions before panning to a suitcase filled entirely with what appears to be teddy bears, photo frames and some large furry slippers!

I catch up with Johnson after a preview screening of the film at Edinburgh’s Cameo cinema, we’re sat on a sofa in the lobby of the cinema, dictaphone mid-air and drink precariously perched on knee. The Q&A has thrown up the most obvious question: how did he first come to hear about Junior Eurovision? “It was the year the heavy metal monster band Lordi won and I thought, wow this has gone beyond pantomine, it would be great to do a comedic documentary [about it]. And when I was researching that I found Junior Eurovison and thought ‘why has nobody made this film?!’”

I ask him if he felt a greater responsibility working with children than with adults, especially as at times the children talk very frankly about their lives and families. “Yeah, it was difficult. There were bits that we didn’t use to protect the kids. But they were all very open to talking about this stuff, like the kid Giorgos, he kind of wanted to talk about the bullying thing, and he said, ‘yeah, they call me gay’. I did think is it appropriate for me to ask a 10-year-old what he thinks of gay people? And he answered in such a mature way which most 30-year-olds I know wouldn’t be able to answer so well. So that was really touching.”

It’s especially revealing to hear how the film has been received in different parts of the world “In the UK people think it’s funny and moving, I guess they’re somewhere in the middle. In Europe the humour is totally different, they don’t see a lot of it as being funny, it’s sort of normal (!) but they find it really moving. So there’s not the laughs, but people are in tears. In America, they’re totally separate, so it’s just like they’ve gone to a mental zoo with crazy animals dressed in lycra and sequins!”

Johnson himself is a mixture of mischief and daftness (not many directors cite The Simpsons and MTV’s Cribs as their influences) and I’m not quite sure how much of what he says is serious or not. Especially when I come to my last question, what are his plans for his next project? “I was thinking actually that I’d quite like to set up a travelling museum of shit. And it would travel around the world, and it would be like a giant shit-shaped bus, but like a bendy bus. Because everybody has a relationship with shit and I think it’s really fascinating. I’m probably not going to do that, but yes I’d quite like to open a poo museum. I’m also meant to be writing a script for Film 4. It’s about two animals going on a road trip looking for a mixture of love, friendship and casual sex, but I haven’t worked out in what ratio yet. It’s going to be an animation and live action mix, like a buddy movie, but with a cat and a cockroach.”

Personally, I’m not sure which of the two ideas is more bizarre, but having seen Johnson's depiction of the crazy world of Junior Eurovision it looks like this brand of bizarre is in capable hands.