Medo de Sobrar, Medo de Sonhar

Those who do not know the Sahara think there is only sand in the desert. But in the desert there are children who play and draw and make movies, and who would like to not have to think about the war. In the desert there's a European colony, an occupied country called Western Sahara, where there are thousands of Sahrawi refugees living a hard life in exile. "Little Sahara" tells their story, the story of a supportive, resilient people who try to thrive and grow in the Hamada, where everything has a hard time growing.

A documentary about a night café called Walkers, its workers and the youth – largely immigrants – populating the café during the night.

Over a dozen students at this school in Quebec were radicalised. To tackle the issue, a pilot project was launched to heal divides within the student body. It's a hybrid cultural model, made up of the many cultures of its students.

A group of young architects, confined to a forest in Barcelona during the COVID crisis, explore the problems generated by the ambition of wanting to be completely self-sufficient.

This documentary follows two long-lost Ukrainian friends, Arsalan and Nastya, as they reconnect in Germany after russia's full-scale invasion against Ukraine. Arsalan, an actor now in Frankfurt after time in a refugee camp, and Nastya, journalist and producer who stayed in Kyiv, reflect on the divergent paths their lives have taken due to the war. Through their conversations and therapy sessions, the film explores themes of displacement, identity, and the emotional impact of war on youth.

At DIFAJE, the Family and Youth Affairs Division of the Bobigny Court, the duties of young prosecutors are the same, with one exception: they deal with minors who are either victims or perpetrators of crimes. For the latter, the prosecutor is the first person they deal with in the legal system, their first point of contact. He or she is the one who gives society's initial response to a young person whose future is already uncertain. Between prevention and punishment, the magistrate's role is a delicate one. He or she must combine authority with education. He or she must deal with the reality of a complex environment and with the differences and vulnerabilities of each individual.

Two Syrian refugee girls document each others' attempts at making their first films.

The Wonder Commission is a new music commission of The Well, composed by Dr. Brian Raphael Nabors and performed by the Antigone Music Collective. Inspiration for the new music emerges from Nabors' conversation with writer, physicist, and professor at MIT, Alan Lightman. The music also integrates the voices of youth from UpSpring's Summer 360 camp for unhoused youth and their questions about science, wonder, and hope.

Eleni is 16 and has just moved from California to Virginia, where she must adapt to a new school. This comes easily to her thanks to her intense passion, which she instills in her peers. She becomes president of the school's rocket club and aims to build the perfect model for a competition attended by hundreds of teams from across the United States.

In May 2005, after 30 years of Moroccan occupation, Saharawi students initiated a series of peaceful demonstrations demanding their right to the United Nations-mandated referendum on Western Saharan independence. The Moroccan authorities responded with a brutal campaign of repression, detaining and torturing human rights activists as well as Saharawi students and children as young as eight years old.

A portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice. Ratamata was made by future Tom Palazzolo collaborator Kreines when he was 16 years old, and was an award winner at the Young Chicago Filmmakers Festival.

Over many years, the director’s father filmed his family life almost obsessively. His daughter’s birth, his son’s first steps, and always Valérie, the young mother. An impressive fund of material which their now grown-up daughter Faustine appropriates to tell quite a different story: that of a woman who sees her role as a mother and its demands take away her freedom step by step.

Jérôme was sexually abused as a child by a priest. In a deeply personal film, he tries to search for clues in his memories and come to terms with the complicity of his former social environment.

Has the time of women finally come? Have their everyday lives truly changed over the past sixty years? Guided by Agnès Jaoui, women—famous and unknown—share their stories across generations. From childhood to retirement, the documentary traces shared experiences shaped by prejudice, but also by hope, strength, and humor. Blending personal archives, historic moments, and social media footage, the film places women at the center of their own story. Welcome to the Time of Women.

Three teenage women struggle to balance school and passion on their path to success.

A girl from St. Petersburg walks around protest-ridden Moscow, talking to riot police and believing that sooner or later they will go over to the side of the demonstrators. An 18-year-old student of a St. Petersburg college introduces herself as Alice and tells about herself that from the age of four she lived in an orphanage and in foster families. In Moscow, Alisa, for whom this is the first rally in her life, walks along the police cordons and looks under the OMON helmet. "Under the mask you can't see, are you even human?"

Courbes

Beautiful Lennard Island

The moving story of Carlo Acutis, a young British-Italian amateur computer programmer who died in 2006, aged 15, as a result of leukemia. However, even though he is no longer here, to this day Carlo continues to be a great symbol of strength among young people. The documentary brings together a series of reports from people who entrusted themselves to the intercession of the boy, beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020, and had their lives transformed.

A Foot in the Door tells the story of Kindergarten to College (K2C), the first universal children’s savings account program in the United States. Launched by the City and County of San Francisco, the program automatically provides a college savings account to children when they start kindergarten.