Żaklina

Whether it's playing games in a military zone, cheating at school tests, crossing borders for cheap thrills or doing whatever it takes to make illicit money - these boys know that with every risk, they move closer and closer to an irreversible jeopardy. Deftly exploring masculinity and peer-pressure, these five coming-of-age tales from France, the Netherlands and Lithuania from burgeoning new filmmakers demonstrate that sometimes young hearts can run dangerously free. The short films are: Gotta (2015); The Last Day of School (2019); Tree House [Cabane] (2016); Gameboy (2014); Pollux (2018).

It's summer. Three friends meet. They will spend a few days in the mountains, camping, walking, chatting. As the days go by, so do their relationships, their misgivings, their affections. And when they return, nothing will be the same.

A troubled family's problems come to a head during a stay in a seaside town.

Two troubled youths break out of their halfway house and make their way to one's home.

At long last, one of the most important novels in Norwegian history will be made into a film. Beatles relates the story of four Oslo boys born in 1951 and hooked on The Beatles, from the time they as seventh graders find themselves on the threshold of the adult world. The film is all about boyish pranks, hopes, disappointments, and of course about pretty girls, hopeless infatuations, drunkenness and parties. The world is changing, and so is the friendship between the boys. But the conclusion is, true friendship endures all - and no band in the world is better than The Beatles.

Charity, a sixteen-year-old girl from a traveling family, is forced to cope with her brother’s early release from prison.

A modern fairy tale about how distrust in the collective society divides a family and how Jill many years later learns about what there is left to trust.

When the experienced guide Vic accompanies the city boy Alan and his three friends on their first wilderness experience, he not only hopes to teach the four boys lessons about the wilderness, but about themselves. Vic pushes them to the limit. Soon after alienating the boys, Vic finds himself in desperate need of help and must rely on his students in order to survive.

As Rockit grapples to understand why his Mum’s not coming home, he embarks on a magical holiday with his father, Bosch, only to discover they’re actually running from the law. Rockit finds a soulmate and then teenage love with Ash Ash, but it’s the ocean that gives him the security and calm he yearns from his parents. Ultimately Rockit is a boy nurtured and held by nature.

Described as a contemporary Bonnie and Clyde romantic thriller about a restless local waitress who is stuck in a monotonous routine until she meets Jameson, a quiet drifter passing through on his way to the Pacific coast. Their unlikely connection sparks a spontaneous journey westward, leading to unexpected gambles that transform their lives forever.

High school loser Danny Stein needs a prom date. As a cause of anxiety for Danny, Bart Beeber, the nerdiest guy in school, has already found a date. At the same time, Danny's divorced parents are both seeking relationships again.

A poetic coming-of-age story as a teenage boy explores love.

“Ambivalence means… nothing has happened, but you remember everything.” Another coming-of-age story about youngsters who are always desperate for but also afraid of falling in love, director Heiward Mak (High Noon, Ex, Diva) continues to examine the ambivalence of youthful love like an autopsy in this episodic adventure among a group of twenty-something. These characters might be a bunch of losers in love who are searching for self-esteem and recognition, but what make these intertwining tales relevant today are not just the pain and longing, but also the bittersweet memories and emotional growth of Hong Kong’s post-90s generation.

Damian, a young boy raised by a single mother, believes that his father is a famous footballer playing for Glasgow Celtic F.C. His dream is to visit him. In his everyday life he has difficulty finding a common language with his mother who is trying to make a new life for herself with a younger man.

Koizumi, a high school track and field coach, was enthusiastic about the talent of marathon runner Shizuo and his dreams of becoming an international runner. However, after graduating from high school, Shizuo, who failed to take the entrance examination, became an office clerk in Tokyo, while being loved by a male customer. Koizumi went to Tokyo and resumed Shizuo's training. Koizumi confessed his feelings for Shizuo, and the two thereafter began a love affair.

Accepting the potentialities of the medium to manipulate both time and space, Broughton brings past and present head-on as he regards with adult feelings his childhood family and friends. Grown-ups romp like children, and by their magnified infantilism playfully underscore such basic traits as sadism, sensuality, arid egocentricity. (Melbourne International Film Festival)

Blue Hour. The day slowly says goodbye to the night - but still defends itself a little. Steph enters Rick's boxing stall in Berlin-Wedding. She is insecure, wild, frustrated - and yet determined. She craves recognition. Through rick. The gym operator, former heavyweight boxer from Boston. It was equipped with everything a champ needs. And is now broken. Seriously injured, worn down, disaffected, sick early on. She can do a lot, but not really. He can't do much anymore, but he realizes all the more. Above all, their energy, their will, their talent. That night, two soul mates are found. Without them knowing.

22-year-old Norge lives a careless life as a bachelor in the province. The slacker idyll meets a sudden end when 16-year-old Josephine turns up after a one-night-stand and tells him she’s pregnant

12-year-old Fabi has to finally prove himself as one of the family - by getting his first scar.

Italy, 1959. A ten-year-old boy called Guido enters a Catholic seminary, fascinated by the idea of becoming a priest. He quickly understands that in order to be a good seminarian he has to submit to an ascetic and unnatural training, consisting in mortification of the flesh, obsession with sin and repression of one's sexual instincts and desires. Guido finds himself up against a deeply hierarchical system, where strict observance of rules and blind obedience to superiors are taught. A system in which thinking for oneself is forbidden.