Growing Pains (2024)

Dead Girls Dancing

On a road trip across Italy, recent high school graduates Ira, Malin and Ka pick up the intriguing backpacker Zoe. As the four girls stumble across an abandoned village, they start to experiment with the limits of their newly found freedom, away from the expectations of their parents and teachers.

The Blue Caftan

Halim has been married to Mina for a long time, with whom he runs a traditional caftan store in the medina (old town) of Salé, Morocco. The couple has always lived with Halim's secret – his homosexuality – about which he has learned to keep quiet. However, Mina's illness and the arrival of a young apprentice upsets this balance. United in their love, each will help the other face his fears.

Hanging Gardens

When As’ad, a 12-year-old rubbish picker, adopts an American sex doll from the Baghdad dumps, he crosses into a perilous red zone, finding himself caught in the crossfire between abusive forces of commercialism and fundamentalism in a world where defenders of humanism have lost their power. He embraces the courage it takes to not just survive, but live.

STAR DRIVER: The Movie

In the remote Southern Cross Island, a secret organization named The Glittering Crux plans to reactivate giant machines that have been sealed for ages. Known as Cybodies, they can only be controlled by pilots identified as Star Drivers. To unleash their full power, the mysterious group must break the seals of the four shrine maidens that reside in the isle. Recently arrived outsider Takuto Tsunashi vows to stop the Glittering Crux in order to protect Wako Agemaki, the girl who saved his life and is one of the four maidens. Wako is a lively young lady who has already been betrothed to Sugata Shindou, a rich and talented childhood friend. Despite being very close to Agemaki, Sugata quietly disapproves of this engagement since it was forced on them due to a family tradition. The melancholic couple becomes a radiant trio as Takuto becomes not only their friend but protector of the seals since he is none other than the Galactic Pretty Boy, gifted Star Driver of Tauburn, the 22nd Cybody.

Reflexes

Coming home one night, a girl discovers a strange growth inside her mouth and struggles to ask for help as it grows at an alarming rate.

Unexpected Journey

Lasse is an old racist who has lives in an apartment block filled with a selection of refugees and immigrants. Kamal is a 16-year old boy who's fed up in his life in Finland, and dreams of moving to Nairobi to live with his father. Only problem is that he doesn't have the money to buy the ticket.

Sequin in a Blue Room

A teenager tries to track down a man he met at an anonymous sex party, trawling through hook-up apps to find him.

The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity

Every few hundred years, the most powerful demon on earth—a snake demon—awakens, and the Yin-Yang Masters are summoned to the capital. Meanwhile, the Princess of the realm has her own plans, as she conspires to claim the demon’s power.

Sergeant

One night in Belgrade, a young guy meets a man for casual sex. By morning, different expectations can bring a new light on this chance meeting.

Kes

Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence—until tragedy strikes.

Run(a)way Arab

A queer Arab boy, Nazeem, looks up to his Muslim mother with awe. Later in life, it is only through being a drag queen that he holds on to their lost and fraught connection.

Our Way Back

Uri, a 50 year old family man, has a romantic secret relationship with Oded, a young man from their small town in the south of Israel. During a trip in the desert, the two are forced to deal with the tragic consequences of their type of relationship.

Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn

In this sequel to Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, Alexander's story is told in both the past and the present. Alexander's parents send him away from home for being too sensitive and not helping enough on their farm. He goes to Los Angeles in hopes of going to art school, but when he can't find a job as a minor, he turns to prostitution. After being arrested, he wants to head to Arizona to marry Dawn, but he falls into a lucrative job/relationship with a gay football star.

Carlito Leaves Forever

In the Amazonian jungle, the village of Palma Real resists the modern world. Carlito, a silent young man, decides to leave. On the muddy bed of the immense river, an encounter reveals the secret that Carlito has hidden from his community.

Le Crime d'amour

To emerge from anonymity, a young man assumes responsibility for a crime he did not commit.

The Wanderers

The streets of the Bronx are owned by '60s youth gangs where the joy and pain of adolescence is lived. Philip Kaufman tells his take on the novel by Richard Price about the history of the Italian-American gang ‘The Wanderers.’

Ghosts

Nina, an end-of-teenage orphan with mental problems, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fell in love with each other, but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. In the meantime, Francoise is picked up at a psychic department of a Berlin hospital by her husband, Pierre. After seeing Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but neither Toni nor Pierre believe her. Nina is unsure about what to think...

Rocky Balboa

His wife is dead and his son hates him, but this old man still has fight in him! When he loses a highly publicized virtual boxing match to ex-champ Rocky Balboa, reigning heavyweight titleholder Mason Dixon retaliates by challenging Rocky to a nationally televised, 10-round exhibition bout. To the surprise of his son and friends, Rocky agrees to come out of retirement and face an opponent who's faster, stronger, and thirty years his junior.

Frida

A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.

Shortbus

In post-9/11 New York City, an eclectic group of citizens find their lives entangled, personally, romantically, and sexually, at Shortbus, an underground Brooklyn salon infamous for its blend of art, music, politics, and carnality.

Reel

It is the last day before Victor has to move to another city with his parents. So he and his best friend Robert do all the things they liked to do together so much: skateboarding, spraying, hanging out. But something is different this time.

Y Tu Mamá También

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Breakfast on Pluto

In the 1970s, a young transgender woman called “Kitten” leaves her small Irish town for London in search of love, acceptance, and her long-lost mother.

The Virgin Suicides

A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.

Emma's Bliss

Upon being informed that he is fatally ill with cancer, Max, who works at a used car store, steals money which his boss has gained through illegal means. When fleeing from the scene of the crime Max crashes his car. He is pulled unconscious from the destroyed vehicle by a homely young woman, Emma, who lives alone on a farm where Max decides to stay in order to hide from the police and his boss.

Imagine Me & You

During her wedding ceremony, Rachel notices Luce in the audience and feels instantly drawn to her. The two women become close friends, and when Rachel learns that Luce is a lesbian, she realizes that despite her happy marriage to Heck, she is falling for Luce. As she questions her sexual orientation, Rachel must decide between her stable relationship with Heck and her exhilarating new romance with Luce.

Goodbye, Petrushka

Claire moves impulsively from NYC to Paris, where she nannies for the family from hell, battles wacky French bureaucrats, embarrasses herself in front of her Parisian crush and navigates a toxic relationship - among other faux pas.

Kino Kopf

Born from steel and glass Kino Kopf is created by two inventors. They are assembled by their mother, a nurturing artist, and their Father a greedy entrepreneur. Kino Kopf is the first of its kind a sentient humanoid VHS camera. They are given a life by their mother but presented to the world by their father. Kino Kopf is the next big sensation and spurs a technological revolution. They are soon forgotten and alone as new models surpass them. Kino Kopf is left alone to contemplate if they ever had a soul, as visions of an electric cowboy dance through their dreams.

Wretched Things

A first-time model, a webcam sex worker, and a power-hungry homophobe journey through their insecurities and vulnerabilities. This hedonistic and seductive feature film challenges toxic hyper-masculinity and the abuse of power through three vignettes.

Every Waking Moment

Inspired by the true story of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, 'Every Waking Moment' is a snapshot in the lives of two musicians, a composer and a tenor, who must hide their forbidden love away from the eyes of the public.

Top Shot

11-year-old Alexander adjusts to life with his new Step-Dad, Ian, while navigating the aftermath of his parent's divorce and escaping into basketball daydreams.

Touch

A dark romantic comedy in the age of social media. Adele is an aggressive, self-conscious 17-year-old girl who spends most of her time "trolling" (i.e insulting) her classmates online. When she is hit on by another internet troll, Uri, they flirt until he urges her to send a picture in which she is actually visible. But instead of sending her own picture, Adele sends Uri a picture of a random pretty girl from Syria - sparking another unexpected relationship.

A Song About Whatever

Elena wants to record her song in a good studio. Desperate, she reconnects with an old privileged friend to ask for the money.

Binti

Binti is a 12-year-old girl of Congolese origin who dreams of becoming a famous vlogger like her idol Tatyana. But when the police raid her home and try to deport her and her father Jovial, they are forced to flee. Binti meets Elias and befriends her. While Binti helps Elias to vlog about his 'save-the-okapi-club', she hatches the perfect plan: her dad has to marry Elias’s mom, so they can stay in Belgium.

My Young Prince

Pole - a mentally ill 17-year-old - lives in a luxurious estate, leads a profligate lifestyle and shows an unhealthy affection for his mother Sofia. Soon in the life of Pole and Sofia appear a young boy Antuan and his father Mark. Pole has a relationship with Antuan, and Sofia with Mark. But no matter how successful everything seems to be, the appearance of Antuan and Mark leads everyone to tragedy.

Aparajito

Aparajito picks up where the first film leaves off, with Apu and his family having moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Varanasi (then known as Benares). As Apu progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother. This tenderly expressive, often heart-wrenching film, which won three top prizes at the Venice Film Festival, including the Golden Lion, not only extends but also spiritually deepens the tale of Apu. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1996.

December

In December of 1941, five teenage boys at a New England prep school hear the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and realize their lives are going to be changed forever.

Irreversible

A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.

What Happens In Cap Vermell

What Happens In Cap Vermell is a story of love and heartbreak, of human relationships, of chance encounters and exceptional characters. A succession of moments linked together that all occur in one place, Cap Vermell, a heavenly, incomparable backdrop where anything can happen.

Popular Music

Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.

Bend It Like Beckham

Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.

Cléo from 5 to 7

Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.

Fire

In a barren, arranged marriage to an amateur swami who seeks enlightenment through celibacy, Radha's life takes an irresistible turn when her beautiful young sister-in-law seeks to free herself from the confines of her own loveless marriage.

The Christmas Setup

Follows the story of New York lawyer Hugo who heads to Milwaukee with his best friend Madelyn to spend the holidays with his brother Aiden and his mom Kate, who is also in charge of the local Christmas celebrations. Ever the matchmaker, Kate arranges for Hugo to run into Patrick, Hugo’s high school friend and secret crush, who has recently returned after a successful stint in Silicon Valley. As they enjoy the local holiday festivities together, Hugo and Patrick’s attraction to each other is undeniable and it looks as though Kate’s Santa-style matchmaking is a success. But as Hugo receives word of a big promotion requiring a move to London, he must decide what is most important to him.

Cake and Sand

Tim and Julian are deeply in love, but the gay couple can't have sex with each other. When you can't sexually satisfy the person you love is this enough reason to quit a long relationship? On a weekend trip to the sea, the boys want to spend some time together away from the pulsating city of Berlin where they live. The trip ends with two cakes in the sand. What if two people love each other but can't live with each other?

My Emptiness and I

Raphi, from France, fantasises about romances with princes, and about starting a traditional family. But in reality, things aren’t like that. She works in a call centre in Barcelona, struggles with at times embarrassing dates, and is diagnosed by her therapist as having gender dysphoria. During this confusing, yet valuable period, we follow this trans woman as she makes her transition, as well as in her everyday life. She talks candidly with colleagues, queer friends, and the men she meets through apps. In spite of all the advice she receives, it turns out that it is mostly time and experience that will help her embrace her place in this world.

Phantom Project

Waiting for his big dream (a film role) to come true, Pablo works as a training actor in a patient-care programme at a medical faculty and a paid participant in group therapy sessions. To make ends meet, he sublets a room in his apartment in a suburb of Santiago de Chile. However, he seems to have lost control when his housemate departs, leaving him with rent arrears, a collection of plants, a dog, a woolly jumper, and... a house ghost. Pablo is 30, and when it comes to romance he is also chasing apparitions. He is secretly still in love with his ex-boyfriend, a popular YouTuber.

Alexander

Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

The Constant Gardener

Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

Paranoid Park

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

Persepolis

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

Time to Leave

Romain, 31, a fashion photographer with terminal cancer, elects to die alone, preparing others to live past him rather than prolong the inevitable with chemotherapy or be smothered in sympathy by those who know him.

Pleasantville

Geeky teenager David and his popular twin sister, Jennifer, get sucked into the black-and-white world of a 1950s TV sitcom called "Pleasantville," and find a world where everything is peachy keen all the time. But when Jennifer's modern attitude disrupts Pleasantville's peaceful but boring routine, she literally brings color into its life.

Dear Zindagi

An unconventional thinker helps a budding cinematographer gain a new perspective on life.

Park

Young love blossoms amongst a group of Athenian teenagers during a boisterous summertime idyll, in the raw, romantic and anarchic feature debut from Greek New Wave director Sofia Exarchou. One of the most eagerly awaited films to come out of Greece in recent years, Sofia Exarchou's feature debut is a coming-of-age story that presents a summertime idyll from the perspective of Athenian youths. It allows us to see the fragility they try to conceal, and at the same time shows them to be unwaveringly resilient despite the socio-economic troubles that affect their destinies.

Forces

Thirteen-year-old Daniel lives with his older brother and terminally ill father in a village plagued by rural exodus. There, the young people live their lives between rare bus stops, xenophobia, unemployment, illegal dog fights and chemical intoxicants, among other things. Daniel stands between childhood and adolescence, and in the face of the indifference and stagnation of his surroundings, he becomes the victim of inhuman conditions that force him into a painful loneliness.

Midnight Cowboy

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

Bambi

Bambi's tale unfolds from season to season as the young prince of the forest learns about life, love, and friends.

Love Steaks

Clemens works as a masseur, Lara as a cook, but their clientele is the same: the guests of a luxury hotel. As sparks begin to fly between the two, his sensitivity clashes with her more fiery temperament—opposites attract, but harmony is nowhere in sight.

Ospreys

Jean & Michel go on a journey in the Clos du Doubs in search of a rare bird. During their wanderings, the couple crosses seasons at full speed, a certain amount of rivers and above all, ups and downs.

Love Reinvented

Different aspects of homosexual romance are explored in this compendium of ten short vignettes encompassing a broad look at AIDS and range for the tale of a lesbian teen trying to come out to her parents, to a gay man who shocks his lover by claiming to be pregnant, to another man's reminiscence of a brief affair with an HIV-positive man.

Wolf

Wolf is a lonely boy who surrounds himself by a world that responds to his desires. He brings Clara, the girl he loves, inside this world but when he can't be sure if she is still real or become imaginary he feels trapped and wants to escape.

Sonnet 23

A modern reimagining of 'Sonnet 23' by William Shakespeare.

Disco Boy

After a painful journey through Europe, Aleksei, a Belarusian, joins the Foreign Legion in France and clings to a confused hope of a European identity. Jomo, a Nigerian, fights for the survival and durability of his people in the Niger Delta and is ready to die to defend his ideas. These two young people who are sacrificed and smashed together will, against all odds, meet and their destinies will merge to continue across borders, bodies, life and death...

Nova

A young astronaut works in solitude on a spaceship, trying to avoid reminders of her life back on Earth. When an alien entity finds its way aboard her ship, she must face some difficult truths.

My Policeman

In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

Gasping for Air

When his sister disappears after leaving their home in hopes of singing stardom, Luis tracks her down and discovers the grim reality of her whereabouts.

Mahogany

An aspiring designer from the slums of Chicago puts herself through fashion school in the hopes of becoming one of the world's top designers. Her ambition leads her to Rome spurring a choice between the man she loves or her newfound success.

Diary of an Unexpected Journey

A young woman receives a diary as an inheritance from her father, in which he tells her that she must take a trip to Chiapas, a requirement for access to all his possessions.