Son-Mother (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Mahnaz Mohammadi
Iran, Czech Republic, 2019, 102 min
Score:
InfoLeila is a single working mom of two, living in sanctions-gripped Iran. When her job at the factory is at stake, she considers marrying Kazem, a bus driver with a daughter. But tradition frowns upon a young girl sharing a household with her stepbrother. After Leila is fired from her job, she makes the decision to stay with Kazem and leave her son Amir in the care of a boarding school, until she figures out how to manage his return.
Rocks (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Sarah Gavron
United Kingdom, 2019, 93 min
Score:
Shola, or Rocks, as she's known, lives in a London council flat with her younger brother Emmanuel and their single mother. Mum is busy and stressed, leaving Rocks to spend all her free time with school friends. One day, she comes home to find her life radically altered: she is suddenly on her own with a child to take care of. Rocks is mercurial, impulsive, and deeply sensitive – not unusual for her age, she sometimes makes desperately poor decisions for what look to her like good reasons.
Why Didn't You Stay For Me? (2020)
Section: International Competition of Student Films Zlín Dog
Directed by: Milou Gevers
Netherlands, 2020, 25 min
Score:
An author’s sensitive view of their mother’s suicide. This personal experience is accompanied by other kids’ stories with similar experiences.
The Wolves (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Samuel Kishi Leopo
Mexico, 2019, 95 min
Score:
Along with their mother Lucia, the brothers Max and Leo have just crossed the border from Mexico into the United States in search of a better life. But it is not easy for them to gain a foothold in their new home country. While waiting for Lucia to return from work, the kids build an imaginary universe with their drawings and think about mom's promise of going to “Disneyland”, their land of dreams.
The Dazzled (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Sarah Suco
France, 2019, 89 min
Score:
Camille, 12, passionate about circus, is the eldest of a large family. One day, her parents enter a religious community based on sharing and solidarity in which they fully invest. The girl must accept a way of living that questions her desires and her own torments. Gradually, indoctrination becomes sectarian. Camille will have to fight to assert her freedom and save her brothers and sisters.
Beyond the Horizon (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Delphine Lehericey
Belgium, Switzerland, 2019, 90 min
Score:
The drought of 1976. Under the unforgiving sun, Gus is about to leave childhood behind. Nature withers, emotions swell, the family unit splinters; everything splits and cracks until the unthinkable occurs; the eagerly anticipated thunderstorms sweep across the tired and worn countryside, washing a whole world away.
Life without Sara Amat (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Laura Jou
Spain, 2019, 75 min
Score:
Pep, a 13-year-old boy, is completely in love with Sara Amat, a girl from her grandparents' village. One summer night, Sara disappears, but Pep later finds her hidden in his own room. That's when the young woman explains that she has run away from home and asks to stay for a few days. Although Pep knows that the whole town is looking for her, he becomes her protector. Consequently, the boy is forced to live a double life: he must lie to everyone while satisfying Sara's demands, which puts him to the test and makes him mature before the summer's end.
Schoolgirls (2020)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Pilar Palomero
Spain, 2020, 97 min
Score:
Celia is an 11-year-old girl studying at a nuns' school in 1992. She’s is a good girl; she is a responsible student and a considerate daughter. The arrival of a new classmate opens a little window through which Celia discovers a whole new world. Together with her new friend and some older girls, Celia enters a new stage of her life: adolescence, the stage of first-times. Her body needs to experiment, try new things, and stop being a little girl, even if that entails confronting her mother and everything that means comfort and security.
The The Fantastic Journey of Margot and Marguerite (2018)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Pierre Coré
France, 2018, 89 min
Score:
Marguerite and Margot are both 12. Each has their own family, friends, problems… and era! One lives in 1942 and the other in 2020. But when a mysterious magic chest transports them to each other’s era, they then have something else in common: their father is no longer there, one vanished during World War II, the other is not living at home. With 70 years apart, they embark in a wild adventure to find their present, explore history and their families’ memories.
The Innocence (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Lucía Alemany
Spain, 2019, 92 min
Score:
Lis is a teenage girl whose dream is to become a circus artist and leave the small village she calls her hometown, although she knows that doing so will mean a bitter confrontation with her parents. It's summertime and Lis spends her days hanging out on the village streets with her friends and flirting with her boyfriend, Nestor, who is a few years older than her.
The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Lorenzo Mattotti
France, Italy, 2019, 82 min
Score:
To find his long-lost son and food to survive the winter, the great bear king leads his clan down from the mountains and into the world of men. After escaping terrible monsters and defeating an evil duke, the bears and men live together in peace – for a time.
Just Kids (2020)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Christophe Blanc
France, Switzerland, 2020, 104 min
Score:
Jack (19), Lisa (17), and Mathis (10), abruptly become orphans. Each sibling reacts differently to the family tragedy. Lisa spreads her wings. Jack, having just come of age is appointed as his brother’s guardian by court decision. A new life begins. But how does someone just barely out of adolescence himself become responsible for a child? And how does one construct a future when the past has become a dangerous obsession? Fortunately, youth’s strength and energy can work miracles…
Kuessipan (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Myriam Verreault
Canada, 2019, 117 min
Score:
Two girls grow up as best friends in an Innu community. While Mikuan has a loving family, Shaniss is picking up the pieces of her shattered childhood. As children, they promised each other to stick together no matter what. But as they’re about to turn 17, their friendship is shaken when Mikuan falls for a white boy and starts dreaming of leaving the reserve that’s now too small for her dreams.
Girls Talk about Football (2021)
Directed by: Paola Sorrentino
Italy, 2021, 7 min
Score:
Six girls share their experience with professional soccer. Animation shows what it's like to be a player in an increasingly male sport.
H is for Happiness (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: John Sheedy
Australia, 2019, 96 min
Score:
Young Candice Phee finds herself on an adventurous mission when, as part of a school project, she resolves to become a peacemaker in her quarrelsome, grief-ridden family. She is doggedly enthusiastic – and often unintentionally comical – as she devotes herself to making others happy. Her new schoolmate Douglas Benson believes that he has come from another dimension, but he turns out to be an unexpected ally and an ardent admirer.
The Crossing (2020)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Johanne Helgeland
Norway, 2020, 95 min
Score:
The story of the adventurous 10-year-old Gerda and her brother Otto, whose parents are in the Norwegian resistance movement during the Second World War. One day, just before Christmas in 1942, Gerda and Otto's parents are arrested, leaving the siblings on their own. Following the arrest, they discover two Jewish children, Sarah and Daniel, hidden in a secret cupboard in their basement at home. It is now up to Gerda and Otto to finish what their parents started: to help Sarah and Daniel flee from the Nazis.
The Club of Ugly Children (2019)
Section: Film Programme
Directed by: Jonathan Elbers
Netherlands, 2019, 90 min
Score:
The new president is serious about the school’s image, including looks. When Paul, whose large jug ears are quite apparent on class photo day, and some of the other “ugly” kids are taken on a surprise trip, they realize that the president wants to hide them away. On the run, Paul is helped by Sara, one of the “pretty” kids. They start an underground club to fight against the president. The movement soon turns into a revolution showing that you don’t have to be “pretty” to be a hero!