Waste Days (2014)

Princess Cyd

High school athlete Cyd Loughlin lives alone with her depressive father in South Carolina, perpetually longing to get away from it all. When her aunt, famous novelist Miranda Ruth, agrees to host her for a few weeks during the summer, Cyd jumps at the opportunity. While there, she falls for a girl in the neighborhood, even as she and her aunt gently challenge each other in the realms of sex and spirit.

Cherries

Family tensions are slowly eroding what should have been a carefree summer for the young boy Jakov. A series of events ending in tragedy will incite his emotional revolt against the grown ups, but also his sense of guilt.

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.

Like a Kiss from Jesus

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

The Way Things Go

A lifetime of loneliness ends when Elise meets a kindred spirit, finally finding understanding and friendship in an unexpected encounter.

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.

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.

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.

Bright Nights

A father tries to rekindle his relationship with his son after years of absence and lack of communication. He takes him on a car ride across northern Norway, hoping it is not too late.

Testosterone: Volume Two

The second collection of this hot boys shorts series takes us deep into hidden psyches, revelations of long-held secrets, to boys boarding school for the birth of a love affair, inside an explosive internet encounter, and at the center of a teen party where infatuations quickly turn lives upside down. Includes: Beyond Plain Sight (2014); Like Father (2017); Lost Years (2016); Salt [Sal.] (2016); Sign (2016); Turn It Around (2017).

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.

Scent of Oranges

In love with a girl that smells of oranges while in a complicated relationship with his father, Darek is gentle, strong and devoted to his little sister and their herd of horses. Darek's world is a story about the joy and pain of growing up in the isolated yet beautiful Lusatian Mountains. Here, horses are not expensive specimens of racing stables but beings you should care for and love. Not even that is enough in life though, as Darek finds out nearing the Summer's end, closing his childhood definitely. However, just like any ending, this is a start of something new.

Juno

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

'Lightspeed'

In a quiet garden where time feels suspended, a young dreamer with a broken watch and a plucked flower shares a bench, unknowingly sparking a quiet venture. Shepherded by an enigmatic individual, through time, mortality, and the fragility of life.

Sandbag Dam

A story about a forbidden love set in a village threatened by swollen rivers. Upon his return home for his father’s funeral, Slaven revives his relationship with his childhood friend, a young sportsman named Marko, his teenage love, and the reason his father kicked him out of the house. Now tempted to reunite, they need to make peace with their own decisions and struggle against the family restraints.

Bitchin'

Two rival bitches plan an epic fight to decide once and for all who gets the high school hottie.

Renoir

Suburban Tokyo, 1987. 11-year-old Fuki’s father, Keiji, is battling cancer, and in and out of hospital. Her mother, Utako, is constantly stressed out from caring for Keiji while holding down a full-time job. Left alone with her rich imagination, Fuki becomes fascinated by telepathy and falls ever deeper into her own fantasy world…

Drifting

After a failed life plan in Berlin, Thilo has returned to his hometown. His first day as a delivery driver in his father's beverage market turns into a road trip through his own past. The trip confronts him with his disorientation and his deep desire for identity and belonging.

Prom Night

Three best friends ditch their high school prom dance. The night that follows unravels their hidden and suppressed desires which cast a glimpse of the emotional bewilderment of a whole generation.

Five Stages

Plot unavailable

Yours Are Mine

When a high school tutor discovers a painful secret about her favorite client, she is quickly triggered by a similar darkness from her own past.

Strive

Kalani (Joi Campbell), is a teenager living in Harlem with her older brother Jacob, and her younger sister, Bebe, while her mother struggles to make ends meet. Her college counselor Mr. Rose (Danny Glover) sees great promise in her educational future. As Kalani's siblings get caught in a myriad of hardships, Kalani teeters on the brink of ruin as she struggles to keep both her family and her dream intact. Strive reminds us that hard work, optimism, and perseverance, in the face of overwhelming adversity, is the essence of what it is to be American.

Schwarz Weiss Bunt

Facing the loss of her youthfulness, Matilda finds herself at a turning point in her life. Refreshing encounters and unexpected longings force her to face rigid self-understandings with new openness. A surprising and empathetic look at the lives of young adults.

A Feral World

An orphaned boy in a post-apocalyptic world, meets a grieving woman who is trying to find her lost daughter. Their journey leads them face-to-face with a despot who may have the daughter held captive.

Summer of Violence

A young college grad, Naomi turns down law school to pursue poetry, despite her father’s objections. She subsequently struggles to survive in 1993 Denver, after being cut off by her father during a period of violent crime in the city known as the Summer of Violence.

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…

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.

EXPOSED

This gripping drama explores loneliness, anger and mental health. It also entails the importance of self care and how toxic use of social media can have a devastating knock-on effect on a group of young school friends.

Only What You Need to Know About Me

Teenagers Laura and Fábio meet at a skate park and their friendship blossoms into something deeper. But when Laura disappears without a word, Fabio tracks her down to uncover the reason why.

Ocean's Arrival

On the winter solstice, four friends reunite at their family's beachside cabin after years apart. From the ocean, a mysterious stranger arrives seeking refuge, eventually pitting the friends against one another. Fantasy, fear, and reality blend together as the days unfold.

Eu vi azul

Plot unavailable

FurtaCor

Between the depths of grief and the bliss of friendship, Gabriel teams up with his friends to create a film written by his late grandfather, who passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Head-Eater

In a city where young people disappear, Anya goes through the process of losing her best friend, Mayra, after she transfers to another school. Anya's loneliness and sadness attract Orion, an alien who attaches to her head, but which no one else sees. He manipulates Anya's dreams to convince her to go to his planet, but she clings to her chaotic reality.

Cold Shivers

Kristoffer brings a girl home for the first time, that which at first seems as a fragile and tender love story makes a tragic shift.

Celluloid Vision

Through lucid dreams, Chiaro uses his subconscious as a form of escapism from his mundane life with his aunt and indolent father. However, memories from his forgotten childhood resurface as his subconscious reveals an aching truth about his past.

Hidden Truths

Plot unavailable

Lost Boy

After losing his job during the pandemic, 18-year-old Gilang continues to try to survive his lonely life. Life crises, trauma from work, and the loss of those closest to him force Gilang to make peace with himself. Finally Gilang dared to look for work again, but all he got was a feeling of trauma which made him even more depressed.

Wunsch Zwei (2)

Wunsch zwei(2) is not about nightmares or fear, it’s about love. It’s is a tool to materialize oneself into the physical world. It’s wunschmaschinen. This short film was shot in a video-diary style between summer 2022 - fall 2024, being revamped with every other screening, exploring themes of identity, faith and mass alienation. It’s about diaspora, trans-girlhood and longing. It's about faith. It’s sort of an artistic take on what is more commonly known as “shitposting”. It’s about trivial posting of affirmations, conspiracies and jargon to conjure something into the screen and through it into reality, aiming to reproduce the shitpost phenomena in video form.