The Best of All Worlds (2017)
Section: International Competition of European First Films
Directed by: Adrian Goiginger
Austria, 2017, 103 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
Adrian is seven and growing up in Salzburg. His young mother Helga and her boyfriend are both heroin addicts; his biological father died before he was born. Helga loves her son above all else. She is torn between her attempts to be the best mother possible and her need to fill the void inside with the consumption of drugs. In this world, privation is the norm. What little money there is goes to heroin, and although Helga keeps trying to kick the habit, her efforts regularly come to nought. All of this is part of young Adrian’s daily life. His world is nonetheless full of adventure and all kinds of experiences and he perceives his to be a happy childhood. It goes without saying that this happiness is far from being an innocent idyll. When Helga finally decides to face up to her addiction and undergo treatment it also means that she must – albeit temporarily – surrender custody of her son to social services.
Marketa Lazarova (1967)
Section: Golden Slipper for Special Contribution in Children´s and Youth Cinema
Directed by: František Vláčil
Czechoslovakia, 1967, 162 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 3
Score:
This historic ballad is set in the mid-13th century, when robber knights attacked travelers on royal roads, while Christianity still fought against paganism, and human life had little value. Love, however, was still passionately potent. The title heroine is the virtuous girl Marketa Lazarová, predestined to a monastery. She's forced, however, to become the lover of a violent young man, Mikoláš, the son of the irreconcilable rival her clan, Kozlík of the Roháč's. Her love for Mikoláš causes Markéta to renounce her love for God, to whom she was originally promised.
Godless Youth (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Alain Gsponer
Germany, 2017, 113 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
In a dystopian, performance-oriented society, adolescents struggle for good grades while their dreams are shattered by an indifferent system. In a not-to-distant future, cities are hellholes and the countryside holds the fairytale promise of a better life. A school girl’s body is found in the woods during the annual graduates' assessment camp and a teacher tries to find the truth – and is increasingly entangled in a net of his own lies. Suddenly someone confesses to a murder that they couldn‘t have committed, and the fragile cohesion of a youthful elite society is threatened.
Summer Children (2017)
Section: International Competition of European First Films
Directed by: Guðrún Ragnarsdóttir
Iceland, Norway, 2017, 84 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
Two small children, Eydis and Kari, are put in a bus and sent from the city to the countryside to an orphanage. Their mother tells the sister to take care of her younger brother and that’s what she does. But both of them are still too young and being away from home is not easy – especially when the teachers are severe and strict. The only thought that helps the siblings is that they are there temporarily – there are children who live there all year long and have no other place to go. In time Eydis and Kari find new friends and adjust somewhat, but every so often one of them irritates the teachers and gets punished. Their lively imagination and playful minds help them get through many difficult moments and, after all, they will go back home soon! But their mother hasn’t come and summer is almost over...
I Kill Giants (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Youth
Directed by: Anders Walter
United States of America, United Kingdom, 2017, 106 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 3
Score:
The story of a teenager who copes with school and family life by escaping into a fantasy world of magic and monsters. Life is not easy for our young heroine, Barbara Thorson. Defiant, precocious, outspoken, and a loner, Barbara relates more to the make-believe world of Dungeons & Dragons. At home, she makes life difficult for her older sister, Karen, who is responsible for taking care of her and her brother. At school, psychologist Mrs. Mollé takes an interest in Barbara's increasingly worrisome behaviour. As she deals with loss and bullying, Barbara's imagined life begins spilling into her real one and she becomes obsessed with what she sees as her quest: killing giants. It's only when she's forced to face the truth and overcome her fears that Barbara is able to confront her demons. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura.
I Kill Giants (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Youth
Directed by: Anders Walter
United States of America, United Kingdom, 2017, 106 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
The story of a teenager who copes with school and family life by escaping into a fantasy world of magic and monsters. Life is not easy for our young heroine, Barbara Thorson. Defiant, precocious, outspoken, and a loner, Barbara relates more to the make-believe world of Dungeons & Dragons. At home, she makes life difficult for her older sister, Karen, who is responsible for taking care of her and her brother. At school, psychologist Mrs. Mollé takes an interest in Barbara's increasingly worrisome behaviour. As she deals with loss and bullying, Barbara's imagined life begins spilling into her real one and she becomes obsessed with what she sees as her quest: killing giants. It's only when she's forced to face the truth and overcome her fears that Barbara is able to confront her demons. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura.
Cross My Heart (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Youth
Directed by: Luc Picard
Canada, 2017, 102 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
Montreal, 1970. The radical left-wing nationalist group ‘Front de libération du Québec’ has forced the province into a state of emergency, and meanwhile twelve-year-old Manon looks on helplessly as her family falls apart. Her father is ill and because her mother is unable to cope, she is forced to give up her children to separate foster families. However, Manon has sworn to her younger brother Mimi that she will never leave him alone, so she hatches a daring plan. She forms a revolutionary group with her cousins and kidnaps an unsuspecting grandma. They demand home-made cakes, bedtime stories and, above all, that they are allowed to live the way they want to. In a remote cabin, they spend their days enjoying their new-found freedom – far from the ignorance of the grown-up world.
Walking Out (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Youth
Directed by: Alex & Andrew Smith
United States of America, 2017, 96 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 5
Score:
Many of us were told in school that there were seven basic types of stories, and that two of them were "man vs. nature" and "man vs. himself." Of course, all good stories ultimately fit into that second category, even if the other ones fit, too. "Walking Out," a wilderness adventure by the sibling filmmaking team of Alex and Andrew Smith, is a fine illustration of this idea. It's about a soft, suburbanized 14-year old named David who goes deep into the Montana mountains to visit his strong, silent outdoorsman father, Cal, then accompanies him on a moose-hunting trip. The expedition goes horribly awry, forcing the boy to discover an inner, primal strength he never imagined he possessed.
The Beauty and the Beast (1979)
Section: Czechoslovakian Cinema: Films of My Childhood, Czechoslovakian Cinema: Film Music
Directed by: Juraj Herz
Czechoslovakia, 1979, 84 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
A rich widowed merchant has three daughters. The two eldest think only of good marriages and riches. For Julie, the youngest, the most important love is for their father. One day, while in a mysterious forest, the merchant loses all his wagons and is immediately destitute. He escapes into a mysterious castle occupied by a threatening monster. In exchange for the man's life, he demands one of his daughters. Julie eventually goes to the castle and awakens in its master feelings he's never felt before. Instead of killing her, a human heart awakens in his animal body...
Summer Children (2017)
Section: International Competition of European First Films
Directed by: Guðrún Ragnarsdóttir
Iceland, Norway, 2017, 84 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
Two small children, Eydis and Kari, are put in a bus and sent from the city to the countryside to an orphanage. Their mother tells the sister to take care of her younger brother and that’s what she does. But both of them are still too young and being away from home is not easy – especially when the teachers are severe and strict. The only thought that helps the siblings is that they are there temporarily – there are children who live there all year long and have no other place to go. In time Eydis and Kari find new friends and adjust somewhat, but every so often one of them irritates the teachers and gets punished. Their lively imagination and playful minds help them get through many difficult moments and, after all, they will go back home soon! But their mother hasn’t come and summer is almost over...
And Then I Go (2017)
Section: American Teen
Directed by: Vincent Grashaw
United States of America, 2017, 99 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
In the cruel world of junior high, Edwin suffers in a state of anxiety and alienation alongside his only friend, Flake. Misunderstood by their families and demoralized at school daily, their fury simmers quietly until an idea for vengeance offers them a terrifying release. Based on the acclaimed novel “Project X” by Jim Shepard, this unflinching look at adolescence explores how the powerful bonds of childhood friendship and search for belonging can become a matter of life or death.
Giants Don´t Exist (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Chema Rodriguez
Spain, Guatemala, 2017, 82 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
Guatemala, in the 1980s. The worst days of the Civil war. Andrés is 9 years old. He lives with Pedro González, one of the men who massacred all the women and children in his village. Andrés has survived, but he’s scared. Pedro’s wife, María, is also scared: scared to go out, scared to lose Andrés, whom she considers as “her new son”. Even Pedro is scared: scared of himself and what the Army orders him to do. Andrés would like to run away, but he also wants to stay in his new family – until his sister appears.
Indian Summer (1995)
Section: Czechoslovakian Cinema: Film Music
Directed by: Saša Gedeon
Czech Republic, 1995, 65 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 6
Score:
Closed and reclusive teenage Klara spends the end of the summer with her grandmother and her cousin Maria, who is her opposite. At the local disco, Klara meets two boys crazy about Mary. The relationship between the two girls and their relationship to both boys form a fragile story of adolescence. Having learned something, Klara sets out for further wins and losses, wherever her destiny takes her.
Laundryboy (1960)
Section: Czechoslovakian Cinema: Films of My Childhood
Directed by: Karel Kachyňa
Czechoslovakia, 1960, 84 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
The film tells the story of a small Czech boy, František Bureš, freed by the Soviet Army from a Nazi concentration camp, who ends up fighting with Czechoslovak soldiers at the Dukla Pass. The soldiers from the field laundry he's assigned to love him. But Práče – nicknamed after the smallest of Hussite fighters – doesn't like it at the laundry. He tries to get into combat to prove his bravery. The soldiers then decide to teach František how to handle the gun and send him as a link to the artillery. The boy finally sees a real battlefield...
Barley Fields on the Other Side of the Mountain (2017)
Section: International Competition of Feature Films for Youth
Directed by: Tian Tsering
United Kingdom, 2017, 88 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 2
Score:
A story about the price of freedom and who pays for it told through the eyes of a teenage girl. Sixteen-year-old Pema lives in the remote mountains of Tibet. For generations, her family has farmed their barley fields in peace. But when Pema’s father is taken away by the authorities, her world is shattered. A Buddhist nun from the local nunnery walks into Pema’s life and invites her to join a group of locals escaping persecution by walking over the Himalayas into India. Pema is torn; can she leave her mother, grandmother and younger siblings at this time of crisis? Does she have the right, or the courage, to join her friend and seek a new life for herself? As Pema struggles with her dilemma, there is no news about her imprisoned father. The clock is ticking – for everyone.
Home (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Jong-woo KIM
South Korea, 2017, 102 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 3
Score:
Since his father ran off long ago and his mother is never home from work, 12-year-old Jun-ho takes good, frugal care of Sung-ho, his 7-year-old half-brother of a different father. One day, his mother gets in a terrible car accident and Jun-ho ends up living at Sung-ho’s father’s house. Sung-ho’s half-sister, Ji-young and her father also take to Jun-ho well. Life in the new home is comfortable, but Jun-ho knows that when his mother comes out of her coma, he could be kicked out...
Breathing (2011)
Section: Austrian Trip
Directed by: Karl Markovics
Austria, 2011, 90 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
Roman Kogler (19) has lived all his life in institutions. Abandoned by his mother as a young child and raised in an orphanage, he is now serving time in a juvenile detention centre having accidentally killed a boy his own age in a brawl. When threatened with life behind bars unless he finds a job and sticks to it, he finds a probation job shifting dead bodies at the municipal morgue. When Roman one day is faced with a dead woman who bears his family name, it occurs to him that this may be the mother who gave him up for adoption and he begins to explore his past.
Elsewhere (2017)
Section: Panorama
Directed by: Samuel Matteau
Canada, 2017, 98 min
Projection place: Golden Apple Cinema 4
Score:
The disarming story of a young man, from the night he agrees to run away from his affluent suburban home in Quebec City to save his best friend Samu. The two fifteen-year-old runaways are soon frantically evading police and adults. When they meet a group of young orphans living in an inner-city cave, their friendship is sorely tested. The journey from adolescence to adulthood, the discovery of love, freedom and the experience of resilience will not be smooth sailing.