Shiverstone Castle (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Ralf Huettner
Germany, Italy, 2017, 93 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 1
Score:
As if Stephan's parents' constant quarrels weren't enough, his mother now reveals that they're going to send him to a boarding school, hoping to improve his grades. But the boys at Shiverstone Castle turn out to be a far cry from teacher's pets. After initial hesitation, Stephan is admitted into a secret brotherhood. That's when the fun at boarding school begins, since the boys are at war with the girls from the nearby Rosenfels boarding school. While the girls are plotting revenge against the “Shiveries,” the boys are planning their next prank. What they don't know yet is that they'll all have to be together at the castle celebration. A disaster... or maybe not?
Up in the Sky (2016)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Children
Directed by: Petter Lennstrand
Sweden, 2016, 82 min
Projection place: Aula
Score:
Pottan is supposed to be spending her holidays at a pony farm, but her parents, who are always busy, end up leaving their eight-year-old daughter at a recycling yard by mistake. After a short discussion, the strange residents of the yard decide to take in the girl and she unexpectedly becomes part of a secret space mission. They are all sure that up there they will find fabulous treasures and the fulfillment of their dreams. Petter Lennstrand's life-sized puppets are already well known to Swedish TV viewers. In his debut feature film, his cheeky, unconventional characters tell a tale of friendship and the meaning of seemingly unimportant things.
Little Harbour (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Children
Directed by: Iveta Grófová
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2017, 85 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
A story inspired by true events about two children whose innocent play will change their lives forever. For Lucia, Jarka is nothing more than a best friend. Ten-year-old Jarka doesn’t see it that way though. She would much rather have her mom try to be a mother instead. Jarka dreams of having a real family and a house by the sea. Left on her own, she stumbles upon twin infants abandoned at the train station and decides to take them in. Her grandmother’s enchanted garden becomes a safe haven where she can take on the role of a parent together with her neighbour Kristian, who himself suffers from overprotective parents. In an impressive manner, the two prove how loving true affection and an awareness of responsibility can look when individuals hold tight to their dreams without disappointing those closest to them.
Eskil and Trinidad (2013)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Stephan Apelgren
Sweden, 2013, 98 min
Projection place: Aula
Score:
Eskil's dad repairs power plants, which means the family often travels from place to place. As soon as the boy makes friends, he's got to move to another power plant. It's also difficult for him because Eskil's mom doesn't go with them. She’s rejected this nomadic way of life around the cold north. Fortunately, hockey is played everywhere, which Eskil plays to the delight of his father, an ex-professional player. He’s not exactly the best shooter, so he's mulling over whether it’s worth it to get a hockey injury for nothing. He's much more interested in sailing – especially in the boat being built headed for Trinidad.
Leaps and Bounds (2007)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Petter Næss
Sweden, 2007, 89 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 3
Score:
Brothers Azad and Tigris get separated from their parents when war breaks out in their Middle-eastern country. Along with other refugees, they eventually get to Sweden, where they must impersonate someone else's children. But life in a foreign country – without parents, friends and those who understand them – is not easy. The dream of a family reunion in Sweden gradually disappears. But if one believes that anything is possible, they can succeed. With the help of an eccentric hot dog vendor, true love, and Azar's championship hopes in jumping, both boys find new life.
On Wheels (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Mauro D'Addio
Brazil, 2017, 72 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 5
Score:
Thirteen-year-old Lucas has just returned to school after a long absence. A car accident has left him in a wheelchair, without the use of his legs. To raise his spirits his parents give him a motorized wheelchair as an early birthday present and he begins to see the benefits of his new chair. Lais, wants to meet her father, whom her mother refers to "the deceased", though Lais believes he's still alive. When Lais receives a tip about her father's possible whereabouts, she and Lucas set off to find him. Travelling a long distance and encountering many challenges on the way, their journey becomes an inspiring demonstration of the power of friendship, teamwork, and inner strength.
Tsatsiki, mum and policeman (1999)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Ella Lemhagen
Sweden, 1999, 91 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
Eight-year-old "Tsatsiki" lives with his mother, a rock singer, in Stockholm. He's never met his father, a Greek fisherman who doesn't even know he's got a son. Tsatsiki's dream is to go to Greece and find his father because he doesn't like his mum's current boyfriend, the group's guitarist. But when his real father's not around, is there someway for Tsatsiki to choose another one for himself?
Iris (2011)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Ulrika Bengts
Finland, Sweden, 2011, 90 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
The year is 1890. Iris is 8 years old and lives in Stockholm with her mother, who is an artist. Iris is precocious and experienced in the ways of the world. She feels at home among her mother´s modern artist friends. Now she is waiting for the big adventure; Ester´s exhibition in Paris. On the day of the departure, Iris is shocked to find out that she will not be going to Paris. When the proposed child minders cannot look after her as planned, she is sent by mail boat to Åland; a place she knows nothing about, but where she will learn to know her roots and become the child she has not been.
Oskar's America (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Children
Directed by: Torfinn Iversen
Norway, 2017, 79 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
Moving tale of extraordinary friendship against the backdrop of a broken family. Oskar's dream of spending the holidays with his mother on horseback on the prairie collides with dreary reality as she drops him off with his cantankerous grandfather for the summer. She must go first to America alone in order to find a job. Levi, a social outcast who talks with his pony becomes Oskar's only friend. When Levi has to go to a care home and Oskar's mother does not return, the two of them hatch a plan: using Levi's great-grandfather's boat, they will row across the Atlantic to America.
Rascals on the Road (2006)
Section: Welcome to Switzerland
Directed by: Michael Steiner
Switzerland, 2006, 100 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
Set in the 1960s, we follow 12-year-olds Eugen and Wrigley on their last summer of adventure. When Wrigley's parents announce their intention to pack him off to boarding school, the boys run away, hoping to find Fritzli Bühler, the "King of Rascals" in Zurich. But then Eugen and Wrigley bump into their Scouts group on the train and feel forced to join them to Ticino. From there they escape again and attempt to cycle back to Zurich, but the boys' disappearance is noticed and their parents get on their trail. As the boys continue their precarious journey over their Alps, they begin to doubt whether Fritzli Bühler really lives in Zurich and whether he actually exists at all.
Åke and His World (1984)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Allan Edwall
Sweden, 1984, 99 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
Set in 1929, the film follows the 6-year old son of a Swedish country doctor. Åke lives with his parents and his sister Aja in a small provincial town. His best friend is Kalle Nubb. Åke is very frightened of the janitor Bergström as well as the lunatic Anne-Marie, his cousin who lives in the attic. There is also the strict principal Godeman and the religious cobbler Ebenholtz.
Rasmus and the Vagabond (1981)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Olle Hellbom
Sweden, 1981, 105 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 5
Score:
Rasmus lives at an orphanage. He's OK, but wants a mom and a dad. Sometimes people come to find a child, but they always choose little girls. Rasmus realizes he has to run away and find parents himself. He meets a vagabond they call Paradise Oskar who likes to sing and play his accordion. Oskar makes the world seem a much better place for Rasmus.
Simple Simon (2010)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Andreas Öhman
Sweden, 2010, 82 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 3
Score:
"My name is Simon. I have Asperger's syndrome. I like space, things shaped like circles, and my brother Sam, who takes care of me. I do not like feelings, other people, change, and comedies with Hugh Grant." For 18-year-old Simon every day is a challenge. But with the patient care of his brother Sam and a firmly established regime he's able to function. The status quo gets disrupted after the breakup of Sam and his girlfriend. Her departure from the household affect both brothers badly. When Sam falls into depression, Simon's life becomes an unbearable chaos. He decides to take the situation into his own hands. To reestablish the lost order, he's got to find his brother a new perfect girl.
Brenda Brave (1989)
Section: Days of Swedish Cinema
Directed by: Daniel Bergman
Sweden, 1989, 84 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
Brenda gladly helps her grandmother sell candy canes at the market square. But one day her grandmother suffers from a sore leg. Brenda has to take care of the candy cane sales all by herself.
I Give You My Word 3 (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Alexandr Karpilovsky
Russia, 2017, 100 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
The final part of a unique trilogy about a Soviet pioneer childhood in which our heroes finish school and get into a series of adventures, say goodbye to childhood and start growing up...
Heartstone (2016)
Section: International Competition of European First Films
Directed by: Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson
Iceland, 2016, 129 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
In his directorial debut, director and screenwriter Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson offers us a view into the lives of two teenage boys in a remote fishing village in Iceland. Thor and Christian truly experience a turbulent summer. As one tries to win a girl's heart, the other discovers till now unfamiliar emotions towards his best friend. As Iceland's harsh nature takes back its right with the ending summer, it is high time to leave the playground and face adulthood. The sensitive and intimate story is like a mosaic composed of many of life's important themes: the relationship between parents and children, life in a remote village, first love, awakening of puberty and sexuality, and friendship.
Teenage Kicks (2016)
Section: Night Horizons
Directed by: Craig Boreham
Australia, 2016, 99 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
Miklos Varga is punching his way through the dark terrain that exists somewhere between the vague, scratchy signposts marked “Boy” and “Man.” On the verge of his 18th birthday, Miklos’ world has come crumbling down. His plans to run away and escape the strangulating hold of his migrant family have been tipped sideways by a family disaster. Only Mik knows the events that led to this tragedy, and he blames just one person: himself. Mik is suddenly torn between his desire to head north and start a new life with his best friend Dan, and the obligation to his broken family. Is Mik a danger to himself and everyone around him, or just a kid caught hopelessly in the tripwires of teen angst?
Swallows and Amazons (2016)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Philippa Lowthorpe
U.K., 2016, 97 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 1
Score:
Set over an idyllic English summer holiday, the four Walker children and their sailing rivals, the Blacketts, run amok in their boats against the stunning backdrop of the Lake District. The Walkers sail the agile Swallow and the Blacketts commandeer The Amazon, making camp on a nearby island. Their world is one of imagination – filled with pirates and canons, where boats are captured and the enemy has to walk the plank. But when family friend, Uncle Jim is revealed to be a spy, our motley crew are forced to put down their imaginary swords and band together to protect him from his Soviet enemies.
Owls & Mice (2016)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Simone van Dusseldorp
Netherlands, 2016, 80 min
Projection place: Aula
Score:
Meral (8) just moved into a new town. She tries to make friends at her new school before their autumn school camp, but this is harder than expected. At home she befriends a little mouse that lives in her new room, which she calls Peepeep. Afraid that her parents will kill Peepeep while she is away, she secretly takes him with her. Thanks to the mouse, Meral makes some unexpected new friends. When an owl catches the little mouse, Meral blames her new friends. It is not until they set out into the wild to retrieve the owl pellet with Peepeep’s bones that Meral finally understands what friendship is all about.
My Life as a Zucchini (2016)
Section: Welcome to Switzerland
Directed by: Claude Barras
Switzerland, France, 2016, 66 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
Zucchini is a rather unusual nickname for a 9-year-old boy and his unique story is surprisingly universal. After his mother’s sudden death, Zucchini is befriended by a kind police officer Raymond, who accompanies Zucchini to his new foster home, which is filled with other orphans his age. At first Zucchini struggles to find his place in this strange, at times, hostile environment. Yet with Raymond’s help and his new found friends, he eventually learns to trust, finds true love and at last a new family of his own.