The Teenagers program of the festival features films about the most sincere age of any person. The audience members, from very young to much older, will be able to feel the pain and struggle of those who are just starting their life.
Program:
Goddess of the Fireflies, Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (Canada)
Catherine is going through adolescence while her parents are getting divorced. Her explorations won’t be gentle or romantic: from one misadventure to another, she’s growing up in the violent, spectacular chaos of the 90s teen grunge scene.
Summer Is the Coldest Season, Director: Zhou Sun (China)
Jiahe’s mother was unexpectedly murdered two years ago. Subsequently, she and her father both lost their focus in life. Her father’s humble job as a beef deliveryman in a slaughterhouse makes Jiahe a victim of public shaming in school. She becomes lonely and helpless and forms her own moral code — fighting back in every possible way against humiliation and unfairness. The arrival of Yu Lei, a boy who has a direct connection to her mother’s death, puts her in an unprecedented dilemma…
H Is for Happiness, Director: John Sheedy (Australia)
The film is a genuinely heart-warming and unflinchingly honest story of a twelve-year-old girl’s determination to bring her family back from the brink and spark happiness in their lives.
Gagarin, Director: Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh (France)
Yuri, 16, has lived all his life in Gagarin Towers, a vast red-brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. He dreams of becoming an astronaut. When plans to demolish Gagarin Towers leak out, Yuri joins the resistance. With his friends Diana and Houssam, he embarks on a mission to save their home, transforming the estate into his own “starship” before it disappears into space forever.
Little Girl, Director: Sébastien Lifshitz (France)
7-year-old Sasha has always known she was a little girl, even though she was born a boy. As society fails to treat her like the other children her age — in her daily life at school, dance lessons or birthday parties — her supportive family leads a constant battle to make her difference understood and accepted.
Relationships, Director: Mathilde Chavanne (France)
This is a story of a grown-up who seeks answers in children’s words and in their imagination.