Summer Illusion

Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.

Their 20th wedding anniversary is coming up and Liane and Ben want to celebrate it together in Lisbon. In the years of their marriage, the two have had little of each other. While Liane took care of the children and the household, architect Ben jetted around the world building luxury hotels. Now the children are out of the house and the couple want to spend more time together again. So much for the theory. In reality, Ben is stuck on a project in Morocco and can't pick up his wife at the airport in Lisbon. He has sent his friend, the Portuguese João, as a replacement. He takes his role very seriously and Liane obviously takes a liking to the new man at her side.

A married couple from New York City escape the blistering summer heat by visiting a New Jersey nudist camp. When the husbands' boss finds out, he tries to entrap him.

A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.

A young woman rediscovers childhood letters, prompting a journey to align present struggles with past dreams. Through challenges and self-discovery, she learns that embracing her unique path is the key to happiness.

Escape the Usual follows a day in the life of three teenage boys during the spring of 2002 in a small fishing village along the south shore of Nova Scotia.

Filming their lives, five high school friends document themselves drifting apart over their college years.

Young student Marc struggles with self-doubt...and a tough-talking bully. But things take a powerful turn when his uncle—an elite Navy SEAL—moves in for the summer and helps Marc find his inner fighter.

Kalani (Joi Campbell), is a teenager living in Harlem with her older brother Jacob, and her younger sister, Bebe, while her mother struggles to make ends meet. Her college counselor Mr. Rose (Danny Glover) sees great promise in her educational future. As Kalani's siblings get caught in a myriad of hardships, Kalani teeters on the brink of ruin as she struggles to keep both her family and her dream intact. Strive reminds us that hard work, optimism, and perseverance, in the face of overwhelming adversity, is the essence of what it is to be American.

A group of five high school students become close after a chance meeting in their school parking lot. Over time, their friendships develop and reach a certain stability. Suddenly, the group is disrupted by the untimely death of one of its members. The remaining four are forced to learn what it is to lose something important to you and how to cope with that loss.

When Mette and her father are left alone over the Christmas holidays, he starts feeling increasingly rejected and jealous, as his adolescent daughter starts looking for real beaus.

At Rosenholm Gymnasium, Selma is to start her second year. On the last night of summer, she meets Johan, a charming but slightly older guy, who turns out to be her new music teacher.

Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.

The lives of twelve year old buddies Dustin, Albert, and Mark, sharing a carefree existence in the summer of 1970, suddenly changes when Dustin makes an unexpected friend after cutting the lawn of 75 year old Jonathan Sperry. As the old man shares lessons in faith with the preteen trio, a spiritual transformation occurs.

After a failed life plan in Berlin, Thilo has returned to his hometown. His first day as a delivery driver in his father’s beverage market turns into a road trip through his own past. The trip confronts him with his disorientation and his deep desire for identity and belonging.

A son quits his job and is persuaded by his father to head off to a cottage in the remote mountains. Together, the two of them manage to get through their days while wearing old jerseys left by a deceased grandmother. The following summer, the two once again leave the stifling heat of Tokyo, as if escaping to the mountain cottage. However, the next summer is very different.

Lili, a feisty 10-year-old girl, has always swam topless. When her parents force her to wear a bikini top for a trip to the water park, she rebels: why should she hide her flat chest when her friends, all boys, don't have to?

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.

A love letter to 70s glam rock told through the eyes of Jimmy and Penny, two children who grew up in a children’s home and were involved in an accident after attending a T. Rex concert.

BOYS ON FILM is proud to present the complete short film collection of Bavo Defurne (North Sea Texas [Noordzee, Texas] (2011)), a beautiful imaginative series that reflects on different aspects of youth and sexuality. Defurne’s short films have wowed festival audiences all over the world and won numerous awards. His fluid directing style playfully takes reference from works of art and legendary filmmakers and creates something unique and original. The short films collected in Boys on Film Presents: Campfire showcase the foundation of an unusual directing talent with astonishing visual flare. Includes: Campfire [Kampvuur] (2000), Particularly Now, in Spring (1996), Sailor [Matroos] (1998), Saint (1996).