Back To Reality (2021)

The Switchblade Sisterhood

A young woman discovers second-wave feminism, while meeting with her estranged half-sister, as they encounter the grief, rage, jealousy and injustice that govern their lives. The academic and political discussion of women's liberation and feminism (as part of the sexual revolution of the 1970s) draws inspiration from 'The Scum Manifesto' by Valerie Solanas and juxtaposes these passage with country music from the same era; notably 'The Pill' by Loretta Lynn, 'Just Because I'm A Woman' by Dolly Parton and, most centrally, 'Stand By Your Man' by Tammy Wynette.

Getting Over February

Following a breakup, Dustin tries to figure out what to do next.

What are the Odds?

On the day of a major exam that could help determine her future, eccentric Vivek decides to take a slightly strange stand against the system.

The Half of It

Shy, straight-A student Ellie is hired by sweet but inarticulate jock Paul, who needs help wooing the most popular girl in school. But their new and unlikely friendship gets tricky when Ellie discovers she has feelings for the same girl.

All the Lonely People

Spanning seven short stories - each taking place in a different city around the globe, “All the Lonely People” showcases a slice of life from various strangers while they try to face their regular, everyday problems. From New Zealand to New York city, the assortment of strangers deal with modern day anxieties that slowly spiral out of control.

Answers

A short film inspired by personal experience. "Answers" follows Mars, a Singaporean who has recently emigrated to Canada for school, as he battles with relocation depression.

1500 Steps

1500 Steps is a transforming journey towards self-belief and brilliance. A cross between Chariots of Fire and The Karate Kid, this high school drama is set in the beautiful, Sydney, beach suburb of Cronulla. Jonas "Jobe" O'Brien, a homely, sixteen year old boy, lives in a struggling single parent family. His mother dead, his father is an alcoholic, who was once a champion runner. Jobe, a misfit and loner, has inherited his father's athletic ability and love for running. After a fatal mistake at a party, Jobe seeks revenge against the perpetrator, as an emotion and power wells within him that he has never experienced before. A retired ex-Olympian, Harry White, sets about mentoring his athletic ability when by chance he sees Jobe run. It is now up to Harry White to encourage Jobe to dig deep and decide what type of man he wants to become.

Spring

Fernando is attracted to his best friend. They skip class together and go camping in the woods.

Nasty Old People

Member of a neo-Nazi gang, her day job is to take care of four crazy old people that all are just waiting to die. Her life becomes a journey into a burlesque fairytale, where the rules of the game are created by Mette herself. Mette is indifferent about her way of life, until she one night assaults a man, kicking him senseless. Waking up the day after, she realizes that something is wrong.

Over the Edge

A group of bored teenagers rebel against authority in the community of New Granada.

Mickey's Descent Into Madness

The film follows three Vietnam war veterans in the post-war period, who happen to be well known Disney characters. This choice that combines with the aforementioned atmosphere creates a delectable piece of work.

Like a Kiss from Jesus

A boy frolicking about on the beach meets this girl who gives him his first kiss.

When The Sky Was Blue

One Sunday between meals and chores with her family, ten-year-old Leah experiences small but striking moments of longing and loss. A series of reimagined memories, the film offers a meditative and wistful glance into the intersectional identities of being Chinese-Australian.

Walking Out

A city teen travels to Montana to go hunting with his estranged father, only for the strained trip to become a battle for survival when they encounter a grizzly bear.

Bolan's Shoes

A love letter to 70s glam rock told through the eyes of Jimmy and Penny, two children who grew up in a children’s home and were involved in an accident after attending a T. Rex concert.

Pop in Q

The story begins the day before the graduation ceremony. Five middle school girls each are preoccupied with their real everyday lives. These girls meet each other in a fantasy world after being sent there through a sudden occurrence. There, they learn about the impending crisis that this world is facing. The way to avert this crisis is for the five to collaborate and bring their five hearts together as one through dance. However, the five cannot come to love the world, and cannot tell their true feelings to one another, so their hearts are unable to unite. The time limit is fast approaching. Can the dance of the five girls save the world? And will they be able to graduate?

Dead Poets Society

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

Rebel Without a Cause

After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.

The Outsiders

When two poor Greasers, Johnny and Ponyboy, are assaulted by a vicious gang, the Socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events.

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.’

Stand by Me

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

12 Days of Christmas

Childhood friends Amy and Steve come home from their first semester of college for a relaxed winter break, but must navigate turbulent reunions, unspoken romance, and even an unplanned pregnancy. There's no place like home for the holidays!

American Beauty

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

A Date for Mad Mary

"Mad" Mary McArdle returns to Drogheda after a short spell in prison for something she'd rather forget. Back home, everything and everyone has changed. Her best friend, Charlene, is about to get married and Mary is maid of honor. When Charlene refuses Mary a 'plus one' on the grounds that she probably couldn't find a date, Mary becomes determined to prove her wrong.

37 Seconds

23-year-old comic book artist Yuma, physically disabled due to profound cerebral palsy and emotionally stunted by her well-meaning but overly protective mother, forges her own unusual path to sexual awakening and independence while at the same time discovering love and forgiveness.

Now and Then

Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty, four childhood girlfriends — Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta — recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more.

Beautiful Girls

During a snowy winter in the small fictional town of Knight's Ridge, Massachusetts, a group of lifelong buddies hang out, drink and struggle to connect with the women who affect their decisions, dreams and desires.

Rain

The film follows 12-year-old Ats, whose older brother Rain unexpectedly returns to the family home in a small seaside town to face their authoritarian father Kalju and their mother, a woman on the verge of losing love. Ats is a witness to the clash between his father and brother, two stubborn men from different generations with radically different views of the world.

The Tree of Life

The impressionistic story of a Texas family in the 1950s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father. Jack finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith.

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.

.45

Kate and her brutish boyfriend Big Al sell handguns on the streets of New York. She's smart, stylish, and self-confident, but all that leaves her when Al, in a jealous and self-indulgent rage, beats her. Three friends encourage her recovery: Vic, a woman who would like to be Kate's lover; Reilly, who runs with Al but also is attracted to Kate and repulsed by Al's violence; and, Liz, the counselor assigned to Kate from a battered-women's program. Vic and Reilly talk about killing Al, Liz gives pep talks; Kate remains frightened. Will Al's menace and Kate's dependency hold sway?

Dinho

Dinho is concerned with abandonment. His biological mother returns, promising she will stay, while his best friend is about to leave. Between child’s play and caring for a sick aunt, he finds some time to dream. Life has not been easy for them: they cling to the final moments of childhood, which seem to no longer belong to them.

Lys

Teenage girl Lys is discovered inside the reactor of the newly build TERRA Power Plant and finds she is developing special powers that connect her to the energy of all living things.

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.

The Wackness

Set in New York City in the sweltering summer, The Wackness tells the story of a troubled teenage drug dealer, who trades pot for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist. Things get more complicated when he falls for one of his classmates, who just happens to be the doctor's daughter. This is a coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, music and what it takes to be a man.

Jelgava '94

Film takes us deep inside the world of Latvian teenagers in 90s: combining the intimate diary of a teenager Jānis trying to find himself by joining a subculture, as well as a skillful, detailed and almost documentary-like depiction of the beginnings of the second independence of Latvia. “Jelgava ’94” is a portrait of a generation in the 1990s who are searching for their own identity and are fans of alternative culture. This is a touching story about us as youngsters, when everybody is against the whole world and tries not to become “one of them”. But can one keep the promise? The story is based on the best seller by Jānis Joņevs set in the 1994 in the Latvian city of Jelgava.

Bambi

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

Battle Royale

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

New Queer Visions: The Last Days of Innocence

When adulthood looms, naivety fades, and a whole new, strange world opens up. These four beguiling European stories, from acclaimed film festivals the world over, explore these years of youthful wonder with a deftness and artistry that lingers. The short films are: Ruins [Ruines] (2019); Aline (2019); Snake [Змија] (2020); The Touching [Dotýkání] (2020).

The Playground

After years of traveling, Anyas parents have decided to return from Australia to their native France, and she has to attend a public school for the first time in her life. But normal everyday school life quickly causes problems for the girl. On the first day, she gets a shot with a soccer ball on the head. When no one wants to apologize for this, a violent argument immediately ensues. So she messed it up with the locals right from the start. Anya becomes an outsider, which doesn't even really bother her. But Zoé, Nils and Jade, who are also a bit different, take care of her. A new clique is formed. But the pretty outsider would prefer to be friends with Nathan, the school director's son. But he gives her the cold shoulder because it wouldn't be cool to be interested in girls in front of his buddies. Meanwhile, the girls hatch a plan to win their place in the schoolyard. A real fight ensues between the students. Now it's girls against boys. But how far can a dispute between children go?

This Boy's Life

When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.

Holger & Vilde

Holger and Vilde are best of friends, which makes them inseparable. At the start of their summer holidays, they have to split, but they promise each other they’ll re-unite as soon as possible. While on their own, they face different situations, meet new people and thereby they don’t fully realize how much they have changed during their separation...

Juno

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, sixteen year old high-schooler, Juno MacGuff, makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.

Carrie

An awkward, telekinetic teenage girl's lonely life is dominated by relentless bullying at school and an oppressive religious fanatic mother at home. When her tormentors pull a humiliating prank at the senior prom, she unleashes a horrifying chaos on everyone, leaving nothing but destruction in her wake.

Amarcord

In an Italian seaside town, young Titta gets into trouble with his friends and watches various local eccentrics as they engage in often absurd behavior. Frequently clashing with his stern father and defended by his doting mother, Titta witnesses the actions of a wide range of characters, from his extended family to Fascist loyalists to sensual women, with certain moments shifting into fantastical scenarios.

Rang De Basanti

After a group of friends graduate from Delhi University, they listlessly haunt their old campus, until a British filmmaker casts them in a film she's making about freedom fighters under British rule. Although the group is largely apolitical, the tragic death of a friend owing to local government corruption awakens their patriotism. Inspired by the freedom fighters they represent in the film, the friends collectively decide to avenge the killing.

Pashi

When his mom’s handsome friend unexpectedly shows up in the village, Ashish, a teenage boy living in a remote area of Himachal Pradesh, is swept in a whirlwind of desire and vivid fantasy. As he struggles to rein in his strong impulses, he learns about “pashi”, an ancient technique of trapping birds, and begins to practice it.

Wonder Boys

Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.

Picnic at Hanging Rock

In the early 1900s, Miranda attends a girls boarding school in Australia. One Valentine's Day, the school's typically strict headmistress treats the girls to a picnic field trip to an unusual but scenic volcanic formation called Hanging Rock. Despite rules against it, Miranda and several other girls venture off. It's not until the end of the day that the faculty realizes the girls and one of the teachers have disappeared mysteriously.

Thirteen

When average 13-year-old Tracy befriends Evie, the most popular girl in school, Tracy's world is turned upside down as Evie introduces her to a world of sex, drugs and cash. But it isn't long before Tracy's new world and attitude finally takes a toll on her, her family, and old friends.

Loulou

Loulou is 13 years old. He returns from his training and finds the house empty. He enters his parents’ bedroom and opens his mother’s cupboards...

Children of the Salt

An elderly father and his two children, survive by harvesting salt from the sea. After the father dies, they live alone. Isolated from the outside world they become increasingly distanced, whilst their lust starts to blossom. Their lives get a lot harder. The brutal reality of harvesting sea salt coincides with their blossoming sexuality. Their lives of solitude drive them further apart whilst awakening lust makes itself known.

A Walk to Remember

When the popular, restless Landon Carter is forced to participate in the school drama production, he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's minister. Jamie has a "to-do" list for her life, as well as a very big secret she must keep from Landon.

Homebody

A solitary individual finds solace in remaining within the confines of his residence, contending with the challenges of depression and alcohol dependency.

Pines

A man returns to the burnt forest where he last saw his brother.

Dribbles

A talented high school artist who's never played organized sports attempts to win a state championship basketball jacket and prove himself to his runaway father.

C.R.A.Z.Y.

A young French Canadian, one of five boys in a conservative family in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging identity with his father's values.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

An unattractive 7th grader struggles to cope with suburban life as the middle child with inattentive parents and bullies at school.

Empire of the Sun

Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirit, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.

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

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.

A Game

Two brothers, Fernando and Pablo, enjoy a playful relationship. One night, their usual games take a different path, becoming something real and completely unknown.

Make Up

After Ruth moves in with her boyfriend in a remote holiday park, tensions rise as she makes an unsettling discovery that lures her into a spiral of obsession.

anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - The Movie

A year has passed since Menma's ghostly return to the Super Peace Busters. Although the time they spent together during that summer was short, the five members reminisce about what happened as they each write a letter to their lost friend.

Closer Than You Think

A six year old Kohl Pihtin, arrives at the musical contest in the capital. But his main goal is not to win, but to find his father, whom he never saw. A discovery of a basement has a passage leading to another reality: on the deserted coastline. The boy has a choice; to stay permanently in the country of fiction or to meet his real parents

Snake

A bittersweet story about an unusual friendship between a nine-year-old daredevil Mario and an eccentric gay man Borche, challenged by the prejudices and hatred of the parents in a remote Macedonian small town.

Varsity Punks

When star high school quarterback AJ Montoya breaks his hand his only hope is to team up with his longtime rivals, the cross country team--a group of nerds and misfits with potential for high school glory.