An Awkward Grace

Coming of Age: Vol. 6 - The Roger Lambert Anthology(en)

Puberty is an ordeal and a joy. Children become adolescents: how do they react to this development? With the help of four different short films, the Brit Roger Lambert succeeds in wonderfully fathoming this important time. In "Split" (1974), a boy with behavioral difficulties tries to make life bearable with imaginary aliens. In "I Want To Be Famous" (1976), it's Steve, the youngest and smallest in his class, who creates a fantasy world for himself until his best friend Stuart, down-to-earth and clever, forces him to face reality. "Follow You Follow Me" (1979) observes the vulnerable friendship between two boys: shy Joseph and confident Peter. But Joseph's father is Peter's father's employer. With "A Seaside Story" (1986) we meet again two friends, this time they are seventeen, who are vacationing together at the sea: the self-confident Martin and Sam, the dreamer. At a beachfront guesthouse run by an eccentric lady, the two have an unforgettable time.

Follow You Follow Me(en)

When a work-related dispute erupts between their fathers, the friendship of teenagers Joseph and Peter is put under strain.

The Boy Turns Man(bg)

The action centers on Ran and his schoolmates who are in the last year of school. They are only a few days away from the day when they will have to make a decisive choice: what are they going to be, and what is more important, how are they going to live? In the whirlpool of meetings with different people and mainly with three women, the filmmakers are trying to see the future of their main character. His schoolmate Mariana wants to lead him into family life. The pop singer Neli is the very incarnation of adventurism. However, he is most deeply touched by the salesgirl in the near-by coffee shop Tintyava. This is a wordless affair in which each glance exchanged betrays the piercing excitement of impossible love.

Gym Classes(it)

Siblings Clara and Pietro aren't close, but they share a hatred for the high school that she's recently started attending and that he graduated from years before. Forced to wait in the school with their father, familial tensions arise.

Unclenching the Fists(os)

In a former mining town in North Ossetia, a young woman struggles to escape the stifling hold of the family she loves as much as she rejects.

La classe degli asini(it)

Envelast(en)

Two teenagers, Anne and Dante, try to reconnect after hooking up.

Iradat(id)

Izza has to wear hijab to fit in with her friends during Islamic Education class, but her lack of confidence and her boyfriend stand in her way.

Green Chair(ko)

When she falls in love with a handsome minor, a South Korean housewife finds herself at the center of a sexual scandal and hounded by hungry tabloid journalists. She vows to cut him out of her life but then he reaches the age of legal consent.

Vision Quest(en)

After deciding he needs to do something meaningful with his life, high school wrestler Louden Swain sets out on a mission to drop weight and challenge the area's undefeated champion, which creates problems with his teammates and health. Matters are complicated further when Louden's father takes in an attractive female drifter who's on her way to San Francisco.

1981(fr)

Filmmaker Ricardo Trogi recalls the events surrounding his family moving to a new neighborhood when he was 11 years old.

Divide(ja)

Saki's life is thrown into chaos when her mother drops dead. She then finds herself joining an evil crowd, the high school pimp and his rogues who become her social life. Her friends no longer recognize her, and all she lives for is to find the sister she was separated from at a very young age. The vicious sex and violence will all be worth it, if only she can find the sibling she never knew.

My Life in Pink(fr)

Ludovic is waiting for a miracle. With six-year-old certainty, she believes she was meant to be a little girl -- and that the mistake will soon be corrected. But where she expects the miraculous, Ludo finds only rejection, isolation and guilt -- as the intense reactions of family, friends, and neighbors strip away every innocent lace and bauble. As suburban prejudices close around them, family loves and loyalties are tested in the ever-escalating dramatic turns of Alain Berliner's critically acclaimed first feature. Winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and a favorite at festivals around the world, this unique film experience delivers magic of the rarest sort through a story of difference, rejection, and childlike faith in miracles.

Pretend I'm Not Here(fr)

Student Eric kills time by spying on his neighbors. Compulsively taking notes on everything within binocular range from his bedroom window, he harasses his neighbors by sending unsigned notes and making their private affairs public. When they discover his identity and draw him in, will this release him from his solitude, or confirm in his mind that he will always be the outsider?

Liberty Heights(en)

This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben completes high school, he falls for Sylvia, a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van, attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman while their father tries to maintain his burlesque business.

Goodbye to Our Kindergarten(ja)

One day, five kindergarten children suddenly disappear from a kindergarten in Tokyo, sending their teachers and parents into a panic. The five of them are connecting on trains and headed to an unfamiliar place for some purpose. Before their journey, they had made a promise to each other “not to cry no matter what happens”

Little Darlings(en)

Two 15-year-old girls from different sides of the tracks compete to see who will be first to lose their virginity while at camp.

The Last Memories of Abril(es)

Camila and Abril grew up together in a small town on the coast and are best friends. There's an obvious and uncomfortable attraction between them. April's family will move to the city, their paths will have to separate forever.

Travelling Past(en)

On her way to a new home in a new country, young Arabella fears that her childhood will be forgotten… but after finding a carefree friend in Inge, she comes to learn that maybe moving on doesn’t always mean forgetting.

Biology!(de)

A small town shortly before the end of the GDR: 15-year-old Ulla lives with her mother in a dilapidated old building where not even the electricity works properly. Economy of scarcity and national bankruptcy are visible everywhere. Only higher party comrades live in the lap of luxury. When Ulla meets Winfried after a summer bathing trip, the two fall in love. Winfried is the son of an influential general director and owns things from West Germany that others only dream of: a computer, a games console, a walkman. On an excursion with her biology class, the high school student discovers that a dacha is being built in the middle of the nature reserve and the creek has been dammed. Winfried's father turns out to be the culprit, but the mayor is on his side. Ulla rebels against this environmental destruction connected to political corruption and organizes a protest. Her activism not only endangers her own future, but also her first great love.