Weekly cinema-tips for teenagers
As we announced on Tuesday, we divided the competition films for young people into two categories according to age: films intended for audiences aged 12 to 14 and films for audiences aged 15 and over. In the cinemas below, you will find stories about teenagers from geographically, culturally, and socially diverse conditions, but who share the same worries associated with adolescence.
Sun Children, Iran
Twelve-year-old Ali and his friends – little troublemakers from busy Tehran – are given a task by a dangerous criminal. They have to steal a treasure that is buried somewhere near the school. However, in order for them to gain access to the treasure, they must first enroll in school. The kids have never experienced shool before, and are now not only going to have access to the buried treasure, but, more importantly, to an education and the unique treasure that is hidden inside each of them.
You can watch trailer here.
Follow the Light, Japan
After his parents divorce, Akira, a high school student, moves to his father Akita's hometown. He can't get used to his new school and drowns in depression and anger at everything around him. One day, however, he sees a "green light" moving in the sky. He starts chasing it and comes upon a circle in the middle of a rice field, where he meets Maki, a classmate who avoids school. Thanks to this common secret, they get to know each other and their once faint lives finally take on color. However, their school is on the verge of closure due to a lack of students. The world of adults finds itself in chaos. What is the mysterious "green light" trying to tell Akira and his peers?
You can watch trailer here.
Beans, Canada
It's confusing for 12-year-old Beans. She is now part innocent child and part reckless teenager. However, she needs to grow up fast. She must become the fearless warrior her Mohawk tribe needs to help in the Oka Crisis. It began as a tumultuous uprising of the first nations (indigenous peoples) over seized land and resulted in a conflict that tore Quebec and Canada about in the summer of 1990 for seventy-eight tense days.
You can watch trailer here.
Valentina, Brazil
Valentina would be happy if the only difficulties in her life were in picking up handsome boys and getting a fake ID to get into clubs. Instead, this transgender girl faces great social stigma and bureaucratic obstacles in Brazil. Her mother tries to ease her difficult journey and be her unwavering support. Together they move to a city where no one knows them and does not know that Valentina is trans. Here she quickly finds friends and understanding in a sympathetic gay and pregnant computer hacker. However, at a wild alcolhol-fueled party, her friends split up and Valentina is left alone with someone who threatens to reveal her secret. In this topical and extraordinary film drama, however, the unusually mature and determined Valentina overcomes the haters with the support of her friends.
You can watch trailer here.
Sami, Joe and I, Switzerland
Sami, Joe and Leyla form an inseparable girl trio. They often talk and laugh while wandering through the suburbs of Zurich. They ought to be glad that school is ending and the holidays are just around the corner. But our trio has its hands full: She herself has something to do with her parents, who are too strict with her. Joe, on the other hand, has to look after her siblings when her mother, who takes care of the whole household alone, is at work. And Leyla is nervous about going into train in a kitchen. The difficult decisions that the girls have to make overshadow their own dreams. And in thsee crucial days of their lives, their friendship seems to be the only constant. But even that is eventually put to the test when events take a completely different direction. The girls are determined to overcome life's obstacles and find out how much truth there is in the words Leyla's mother once told them: "Always have more dreams in your soul than reality can destroy."
You can watch trailer here.