What Don't You Understand?

Justin Cobb, a teenager in suburban Oregon, copes with his thumb-sucking problem, romance, and his diagnosis with ADHD and subsequent experience using Ritalin.

Jamie is a woman in her 30s who has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. The diagnosis doesn't come as a surprise, in fact it all now makes sense. She's constantly walking on eggshells, always scared of saying the wrong thing. Jamie and Allie are falling in love. Always late, messy and not listening, will Allie lose interest in Jamie?

Alma (20), who has ADHD, works as a beekeeper but dreams of a life in the city. The day before her university exam, Pietro, her father, expresses his concerns about his daughter’s future. During the test, Alma struggles against the distractions caused by her condition but is interrupted by a tender memory: a bee buzzing around her. This event takes her back in time, to her first encounter with the beehives. What at first seems chaotic reveals itself to her as the most intelligent of natural structures.

When Kendra is admitted into group therapy, she becomes overly competitive about completing her weekly goals.

A single mom has one of her identical twin boys assessed and after being diagnosed with ADHD, he shares his medication, leading to adventures and consequences.

As Will struggles to cope with the tragic loss of his father, he and his mother resolve to build a new life by relocating to Houston, Texas. At his new school, Will’s social and learning difficulties lead to a false diagnosis of his condition. Inspired by real events, this film observes one of the loneliest disorders that children recovering from life-altering traumas face.

The story centres on a group of teenagers street cast in their neighbourhood and selected to play in a feature film during the summer. The film tells the story of this film shoot and of the connections that will be formed during it.

A man suffering with ADHD struggles to get through his daily routine.

Thumbsucker - Behind the Scenes

For twenty years, Bruno and Malik have lived in a different world—the world of autistic children and teens. In charge of two separate nonprofit organizations (The Hatch & The Shelter), they train young people from underprivileged areas to be caregivers for extreme cases that have been refused by all other institutions. It’s an exceptional partnership, outside of traditional settings, for some quite extraordinary characters.

Meg, a millennial painter with ADHD, navigates her life on the way to a job interview. What starts as a simple task turns into a race against the clock as she encounters society’s stigmas, unlikely allies, and challenges from her past.

An experimental short film about sensory seeking behaviour in childhood. Filmed on VHS.

After turning in his fourth late assignment, Sam is sent to his university's counsellor, Dr Miller. Struggling to focus and sit still, Sam reveals how his love for music and all things practical was neglected by his parents, who eventually pushed him into theoretical subjects he can't excel in. When the counsellor suspects he has ADHD, Sam reveals that he sometimes feels all his annoying impulses could be best described as an irritating "shadow"; a loud, brightly-dressed version of himself who never leaves him alone. She then asks Sam to recount the day when the "Shadow" led him through London, prioritising trivial tasks over his assignment, ultimately leading him to not hand it in on time.

A hyperactive boy and his best friend, a slow-witted youth with an affinity for horses, start collecting scrap metal for a shady dealer.

Longing for acceptance, a neurodivergent boy taunts the boundaries of his best friend: his brother.

Julia and her son Dani with ADHD attend a birthday party to which they haven’t been invited. Parents seem reluctant to let them in but they end up letting them pass. The party goes on well until an aggression between the kids makes the adults to blame Dani and Julia loses her temper for defending him.

Exhausted by the devastation that ADHD has caused to her finances, studies, and friendships, Ana decides to give herself one last chance by participating in a job interview.

The story of a lonely, emotional and almost psychotic freshman’s in his first year of High School.

Three individuals describe their unique ways of coping with everyday stress, anxiety, and mental health. A narrative short film presented as documentary-style interviews, exploring the honest, messy reality of coping mechanisms and neurodivergent life.

Adam Conover talks about society’s short attention span, prescription drugs, and American car culture.