IN THE beginning was the documentary, which begat the mockumentary and now has spawned the popumentary, as Sounds Like Teen Spiritis billed in the opening titles.

Its subject is the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, in which Ireland is conspicuously absent despite our record-breaking run in what passes for the grown-up version. Perhaps that’s because Eurovision Junior is also dominated by eastern European countries, which vote for each other en bloc.

All the entrants are aged from 10 to 15 and wrote their own songs. Director Jamie J Johnson sets his focus on four acts competing against 13 others at the 2007 event in Rotterdam. Whether or not Johnson set his hopes on one of those four being the eventual winner – or last-placed contestant – is immaterial because he has chosen so well.

From Georgia comes Mariam (13), who lives in a grim rundown flats complex and carries the hopes of her nation. Marina (14), the lead singer with Bulgarian eight-piece girl group Bon-Bon, is obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayerbut more concerned with hoping for the return of her absent father.

Representing Cyprus, Giorgios (10) has a big voice for such a small boy and is remarkably mature and philosophical for his age. He guides us through his home and slides down the banisters before telling us he’s been bullied at school and called gay because he prefers music to football. And Belgian quartet Trust consists of three gangly boys and a girl singer, who are dismissed by one commentator as “too old, too big and not cute”.

We get to know these aspirant stars very well on their home ground, in rehearsal and when they all meet and develop a close camaraderie in Rotterdam. The set-up recalls movies on American children entering spelling bees ( Spellbound) and beauty pageants ( Little Miss Sunshine), but there are no pushy parents or exaggerated ambitions about these young Europeans.

When it comes to the final, the camera prowls backstage to capture the nerves and prayers of the contestants, who are acutely aware that there will be one winner by the end of the night, and that one act will place last. By then, viewers will have chosen their own favourites, sharing in the tension of the voting process and empathising with the youngsters undergoing that form of cruelty.

The contestants’ resilience is as admirable as their enthusiasm is infectious in Johnson’s charming film, which neither patronises nor manipulates them and allows them to speak – and sing – for themselves.

Directed by Jamie J Johnson Gen cert, Light House, Dublin, 93 min* ***