Mio(2008)

Prinzessinnenbad(en)

A film about three teenagers - Klara, Mina and Tanutscha - from the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. The trio have known each other since Kindergarten and have plenty in common. The three 15-year-olds are the best of friends; they are spending the summer at Prinzenbad, a large open-air swimming pool at the heart of the district where they live. They're feeling pretty grown up, and are convinced they've now left their childhood behind.

Endangered Species(en)

We have volunteered for the Earth Conservation Corps to restore the Anacostia river and the Washington wasteland where we live and often meet an early violent death. We are striving to return our nation's bird,the bald eagle, to our Nation's Capitol. If the eagles survive maybe we can too. We began filming this documentary in 1992 to show people our America. "Endangered Species" is our story. - Written by Antoine Woods

Junge Leute(de)

A documentary about young people just starting their higher education and their professional life.

Like It Is(en)

This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.

Three of Many(de)

Böttchers film showcases three young workers who learn how to paint, draw, and make sculptures out of stone. The film generated a storm of mistrust, as there is no leading communist party, and the three individuals live blithely and independently of the official dictates. It became one of the first DEFA documentary productions that were not allowed to be shown.

Was lebst Du?(de)

The Fallen(hu)

The documentary was shot in the prison for juvenile delinquents in Hungary. It does not aim at judging whether the perpetrators were convicted rightly or not but, given the burden they carry, how they can reintegrate into society after they are released.

Johanna sucht das Glück(en)

The Perfumed Garden(ar)

THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

Finding the Gold Within(en)

Six young black men from Akron, Ohio, enter college, determined to redefine society's images and low expectations. Despite their confidence, the stark reality of being away from home brings a series of crises. Well trained in critical and metaphorical thinking, and unusually articulate about their inner lives, each of the protagonists guides us to his core. Since sixth grade, they have been part of an innovative mentoring program called 'Alchemy, Inc.' that uses mythological stories, drumming and writing. In the twice-yearly reunion workshops everyone speaks of his trials and his triumphs with authenticity, intelligence, honesty and heart. In turns quiet, thoughtful and exuberant, the six protagonists grow before our eyes, whether navigating racial provocations, or seeking support with new friends, estranged fathers and wise grandmothers.

Little Proletarian(zh)

A Rebel Without a Cause for a new generation, and one of the most defiant children to ever grace the big screen, 14-year-old Hai is a teenage terror, a high school dropout and an all-around badass. He is also entirely irresistible. You cannot take your eyes off this kid, complete with a motorbike and an everpresent cigarette butt drooping from the corner of his mouth. (Dorothy Woodend, DOXA Documentary Film Festival)

Our Children(de)

From an official perspective, marginal youth culture did not exist in East Germany. The topic of subcultures was taboo in the GDR, and groups such as goths, skinheads, anti-skins, punks and neo-Nazis were dismissed as social deviations promoted by western countries. Director Roland Steiner had access to such young East Germans in the late 1980s. Over the course of four years, he brought them before the camera in an attempt to understand what drew them to these groups.

Cain's Children(hu)

Three boys, they all committed murder. After discovering their haunting faces and disturbing stories in a banned prison documentary from 1984, the filmmaker goes out to find them and discovers untold secrets and a Hungary he has never known.

Spotlight on Merna(en)

Taking part in The Voice Kids is already quite something, but for 11-year-old Merna it’s really something special. Her parents had to flee Iraq because they are part of the Christian minority, and IS was threatening to kidnap Merna. They now live in Lebanon, where one in three people is a refugee. The family has been waiting for two years for permission to move on. FaceTiming with her older sister, who stayed behind in Iraq, and cooking her favorite dishes with her mother make the situation more bearable. But what also really helps is singing – this calms Merna and makes her less afraid. She used to sing only in church, but since The Voice her beautiful, melancholy voice touches everyone. Because of her status as a refugee, Merna isn’t allowed to attend the foreign performances with the other finalists, but she’s now a national celebrity in Lebanon.

De Wereld aan je Voeten(nl)

In 2010, director Michiel van Erp started filming a group of children in Utrecht. He kept filming them till 2018, the year they turned 18. The film portrays those moments which were crucial for the development and personal growth of the kids.

Unarmed Verses(en)

Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer profiles the young people of Villaways Park, a housing project on brink of historic change.

Before Father Gets Back(ka)

In a darkened classroom, the white cracked walls serve as a movie screen. We are in a remote mountain village in Georgia. The light from the projector breaks the darkness: the children's first cinematic experience is about to begin. Among the kids are Iman and Eva, two Muslim girls, for whom the experience becomes a turning point and inspires them to pick up a camera and start filming their daily lives. The girls are growing up in a valley infested by radicalism, where most people live in constant fear that their relatives will sacrifice their lives in the name of God.

Los posibles(es)

Santiago Mitre co-directs his first movement following The Student together with choreographer Onofri Barbato. Although it would have been more accurate to say “his first film-story-adventure-movie-great movie following The Student”, the word movement fits perfectly in Los posibles, the most overwhelmingly kinetic work Argentine cinema has delivered in many, many years. The film deals with the adaptation of a dance show directed by Onofri together with a group of teenagers who came to Casa La Salle, a center of social integration located in González Catán, trying to find some refuge from hardship. Already entitled Los posibles, the piece opened in the La Plata Tacec and was later staged in the AB Hall of the San Martín Cultural Center. Now, it dazzles audiences out of a film screen, with extraordinary muscles and a huge heart: Los posibles is a rhapsody of roughen bodies and torn emotions. Precise and exciting, it’s our own delayed, necessary, and incandescent West Side Story.

Puberty: Sexual Education For Boys and Girls(nl)

This sex education movie explore themes of body development, sexual hygiene, masturbation, menstruation, puberty, sex and giving birth.

Amarillo By Morning(en)

While filming professional bullriders for a commercial at the national rodeo in Houston, Texas, Spike Jonze befriended two suburban teenagers who aspired to be cowboys. The documentary chronicles an afternoon in their lives.