Neon Dreaming (2024)

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

In 1960s Tulsa, class divisions ignite a violent rivalry between the working-class Greasers and the privileged Socs. When a deadly encounter forces two Greasers, Ponyboy and Johnny, to flee, their struggle for survival and redemption exposes the fragile innocence and enduring bonds of youth on the wrong side of town.

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.

Aparajito

Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he 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.

City of God

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.

Billy Elliot

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Dirty Dancing

Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.

In the French Style

A young American art student must decide whether to stay in Paris with her boyfriend or go back to the U.S. when her wealthy father arrives to bring her back.

The 400 Blows

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

Almost Famous

In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-coming band, Stillwater.

Closely Watched Trains

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot.

American Graffiti

A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.

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.

Harold and Maude

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.

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.

The Virgin Suicides

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

Billie Blue

Follow the summer of Billie's 16th birthday, a lifeguard at the water park, with her two best friends, Rosine and Juliette, as well as her perfect big sister, Annette. Billie's summer is quickly turned upside down when she falls in love with a charming cycling champion.

Edge of Seventeen

1984, Sandusky, Ohio. A naive 17-year-old navigates heartbreak and self-expression as he explores his sexuality.

10 Things I Hate About You

On the first day at his new school, Cameron instantly falls for Bianca, the gorgeous girl of his dreams. The only problem is that Bianca is forbidden to date until her ill-tempered, completely un-dateable older sister Kat goes out, too. In an attempt to solve his problem, Cameron singles out the only guy who could possibly be a match for Kat: a mysterious bad boy with a nasty reputation of his own.

Boogie Nights

Set in 1977, back when sex was safe, pleasure was a business and business was booming, idealistic porn producer Jack Horner aspires to elevate his craft to an art form. Horner discovers Eddie Adams, a hot young talent working as a busboy in a nightclub, and welcomes him into the extended family of movie-makers, misfits and hangers-on that are always around. Adams' rise from nobody to a celebrity adult entertainer is meteoric, and soon the whole world seems to know his porn alter ego, "Dirk Diggler". Now, when disco and drugs are in vogue, fashion is in flux and the party never seems to stop, Adams' dreams of turning sex into stardom are about to collide with cold, hard reality.

Sound! Euphonium the Movie – Our Promise: A Brand New Day

Kumiko is now a second year and one of the senior players of the euphonium section. With new underclassmen joining the concert band, Kumiko will have to learn new things in order to deal with awkward and difficult underclassmen. She and third-year trumpeter Tomoe Kabe have been chosen to lead the new underclassmen members. Among the new members to Kumiko's bass section are euphonist Kanade Hisaishi, whose appearances are deceiving; tuba player Mirei Suzuki, who cannot adapt to her new environment; tuba player Satsuki Suzuki, who wants to get along with Mirei; and double bassist Motomu Tsukinaga, who cannot talk about himself. Between the Sunrise Festival, chair placement auditions, and the competition, a number of problems quickly begin to arise.

Some Things That Stay

A coming-of-age story of a teenage girl from a liberal upbringing who moves to a conservative baptist community in rural 1950s America.

Juno

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

Olsen's Day

A production assistant goes on a trip with a strange old man and his son who threatens him but at the same time, gives him the answers he seeks.

Sweet As

With problems on the home front, 15-year-old Murra is on the verge of lashing out. That is, until her policeman uncle thwarts her self-destructive behaviour with a lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids”. Murra isn’t entirely convinced, but she soon joins cantankerous Kylie, uptight Sean, happy-go-lucky Elvis, and camp counsellors Fernando and Michelle on a transformative bus trip to the Pilbara. On the trail, the teens learn about fun, friendship and first crushes, as well as the forces of ‘reality’ that puncture the bubble of youth.

Plants

For a whole summer, 17-year-old Florencia has to look after her brother, who is trapped in a persistent vegetative state. From time to time she reads to him from a comic about plant souls that take control of human bodies at full moon.

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.

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.

Summer Illusion

At the end of summer, a young couple, Eric and Anna, make the drastic decision to run away from home and embark on a road trip with no clear destination. What initially seems like a liberating journey soon becomes an oppressive experience.

Victim or Hero

"Victim or Hero" is a short film about the battle between fate and willpower. Do we accept the role of the world’s victim, or take control as the hero of our own story?

First Love

This is a story about coming of age, coming out and a gay marriage that is sprinkled with both love and comedy, at the centre of which is a teenager who doesn’t yet know what he wants.

Astrakan

Samuel is a wild-looking twelve-year-old orphan who has been placed with a nanny, Marie, for several weeks. Marie, who is struggling between her feelings and her need for money, is married to Clément with whom she has two sons, Alexis and Dimitri. Very quickly Samuel will have to get to know this new family and their possible secrets.

Kanazawa Shutter Girl

The girls are good friends at junior high school. Three of them seem to adjust and move forward upon entering high school, but the fourth of them is not having a seamless time of it. High school is not comfortable and the transition is full of memories, nostalgia and yearning. This is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl and also a camera. Kanazawa Shutter Girl picks up inspiration from the manga, and the subsequent movie, called Tokyo Shutter Girl and is helmed by one of its predecessor's's directors.

Ham on Rye

A bizarre rite of passage at the local deli determines the fate of a generation of teenagers, leading some to escape their suburban town and dooming others to remain…

Bridge of Mischiveous Children

Jhony passes the summer with his older brother, who wastes his time along his friends, obsessed with alcohol, pornography and the different women he takes into his mother's bedroom. One day, a girl named Misha arrives at the neighborhood, fracturing their monotony. Nobody knows anything about her, except that they call her Misha because of her green eyes, like those of cats.

The Best Reward

Mattia is 17 years old. Raised in a post-industrial province and experiencing an identity crisis, he is the son of a trade unionist and a housewife. Hypersensitive and fragile, he expresses himself through hip-hop music. The death of his older brother begins a period of great changes. Mattia leaves school, starts working in a factory and, through a North African colleague, approaches Islam. Prey to a lacerating restlessness, Mattia takes the path of progressive isolation and radicalization.

Nowhere

In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.

Welcome Home

This is the story of two childhood friends - Lucas (a 16-year-old high-schooler) and Bert (a mechanic’s apprentice) - who flee the suffocating fish bowl that their killjoy families’ lives have become. Lucas, still quite immature, finds a “big brother” in Bert, a guide who is going to take him straight to the brink of catastrophe. But very quickly, boredom resurfaces and the freewheeling sense of being on an adventure evades them. Should they return to the fold, or keep moving on? Their drifting logic compels them to blindly forge ahead.

Against All Odds

Younus does not give up! Fascination is glued to the strange but familiar father figure and mixed up with a growing longing for real intimacy. Cautiously testing and expanding boundaries, Younus is playing a risky game. When the tension finally unloads, he questions the deeper foundation of the fragile relationship.

Secret World

Wendy is the British guest of a French couple and the daughter of the man who saved the host's life during World War II. Living with the couple is their 20-year-old son and a 12-year-old nephew whose parents were killed in an automobile accident. The father and son both try to seduce the attractive guest. The young boy retreats into his own world and dreams of being taken back to Britain by Wendy in this romantic drama. The mother spends her time bleaching her hair and is seemingly uninterested in anything that goes on with her family at the beachfront villa. Meanwhile, Wendy and the younger boy develop a fondness for each other, while his aunt and uncle fail to understand his needs.

Headbutt

Headbutt portrays the desire of Tobias (15) to restore the old relationship he had with his brother Lucas (18). While they used to do everything together, Lucas now has no interest in his younger brother anymore. When Tobias fantasizes that Lucas will commit suicide, Tobias has no other option than to restore the relationship with his isolated brother.

Say Yes

Julia is in love with her best friend Christian. Christian is in love with the single life. A film about the modern day relationship, being young, stupid and daring to say yes to love.

Rock Paper Grenade

A story about relationships between children and adults broken by shaky 1990s in Ukraine. The boy Tymophii befriends a weird man named Felix. He's the veteran of Afghan war, he has PTSD and he loves music.

Soft

Three adolescent boys become captivated by the queer nightlife over summer break, but a missing person pulls them back into the reality they tried to leave behind.

Nothing

Pierre Anthon and his classmates have just started 8th grade, when Pierre Anthon declares that life has no meaning, leaves school and moves up in a tree, refusing to come down. This sparks an existential crisis amongst his classmates. They decide to gather their most valuable belongings in a “heap of meaning” that will convince Pierre Anthon that he is wrong. A dangerous, disturbing, and controversial study of what really matters has begun.

Lolo

Lolo is an openly gay 11-year-old boy trying to finally convince Max, his first love, to go public with their relationship at the school party. Max also wants a relationship but Lolo might not be the one. Lolo’s best friends, Elena and Toby, help him to overcome this situation and give him the support that he needs.

Boy in the Corner

The backward system of society pushes another dream-filled boy to the curb. With his aspiration suppressed, he is at risk of falling into the attractive arms of gang life.

A Tale of Love and Desire

Ahmed, 18, is French of Algerian origin. He grew up in the Parisian suburbs. On the benches of the university, he meets Farah, a young Tunisian full of energy recently arrived from Tunis. While discovering a body of sensual and erotic Arabic literature that he never knew existed, Ahmed falls deeply in love with this girl, and although literally overwhelmed by desire, he will try to resist it.

Red Island

Madagascar, at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. On an air base of the French army, the soldiers live the last carefree years of colonialism. Influenced by his readings of Fantômette, Thomas, a child who is not yet 10 years old, gradually forges a look at the world around him.

Babyteeth

A terminally ill teen upsets her parents when she falls in love with a small-time drug dealer.

Aura: Koga Maryuin's Last War

Satou Ichirou once called himself 'Maryuuin Kouga' and behaved as if he were a hero in a fantasy world. His strange behavior caused his classmates to bully him and he left the school. At his new school, he tries to behave like a normal boy, but one day he meets a girl who cosplays with a blue cape. She calls herself "a researcher traveling from the outer world to search for the 'Dragon Terminal'". At first, Ichirou rejects the girl, Satou Ryouko, because her behavior reminds him of his embarrassing past, but he changes his mind after seeing her getting bullied. In order to bring Ryouko back to real life, Ichirou accepts her and his past and begins the final battle as Maryuuin Kouga.

When We Were Boys

Christmas 1967, when hockey was played on outdoor rinks. The Boys form the parish's second team and are guaranteed participation in the Holiday Tournament as they are the hosts. Despite limited talent, they dream of victory. Off the ice, they will have to deal with all kinds of moments that one experiences at that age; some funny and some difficult. Together, however, they will face them. Together, they will try to grow, because this is how they have chosen to live: Together.

29 to Life

Coming of age story about a young adult who is living out of his car and his journey to get his life together.

Gabriela

It's the summer after high school graduation and Gabriela, a young undocumented Guatemalan woman, pursues her dream of swimming for an illustrious Country Club swim team. Despite her single-minded determination, Gabriela is continually confronted with her overprotective mother’s ears, limitations on her economic and legal status, and self-judgment. As she questions her self-worth against the structures of contemporary American Southern life, Gabriela embarks on a quest towards personal freedom and self-acceptance.

Eaten by Lions

Omar and Pete are half brothers. When their parents are eaten by lions they embark on a journey to find Omar's real father. What follows is a funny, heart-warming journey of self-discovery for both boys...in Blackpool. The Choudray family represents a truly contemporary example of modern multicultural Britain - but what will the brothers make of their eccentric newfound family? Will they be going to Mecca or Mecca bingo? In contrast to the old fashioned stereotypes about Blackpool, the comedy is sharp, current and non-stop.