The Boy in the Ocean

In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young black girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark.

A slow, hot summer afternoon. A father sleeps while his child is drawing with pencils in a cross word puzzle. A wind moves through the grass - something bad is about to happen.

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

Across time, a Black woman seeks to piece together the fragments of Black female figures and, guided by Black Venus, attempts to regain control of their narrative.

Marius and Ebba are a couple in their late 20s who are in constant conflict, even though they love each other deeply. Every New Year's Eve they try to break up. A story about love and dysfunction told over the course of three years.

After a rare diagnosis, Lily's attempts to flee from war torn Israel are thwarted when the airport shuts down and her zany cousin forces her to party.

Susanne arranges a surprise party for her husband, and the guests are waiting back at the apartment. From their hiding places they hear Peter walking into the hall, and they await the signal from the party blower so they can jump out and cheer. But no signal comes. Because Peter is not alone.

Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.

After a mysterious stranger shows up at Gray's doorstep holding the corpse of a dead bird, an impromptu funeral changes the way Gray views herself and her lesbian identity.

Michelle, a 10-year-old survivor of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, attempts to escape both her past and her new home when she learns that her "new" family is not what they seem.

Like tears in the rain, water is the metaphor for growing pains and so much more in these four tales about young boys coming to terms with a host of emotions for the very first time. These polished productions and festival favourites are brought to you by a host of talented directors from across Germany, Denmark, France and the Netherlands. The short films are: Ocean [Océan] (2013); Go Daan Go! [Daan Durft] (2014); The Boy in the Ocean (2016); Beach Boy (2011).

In 1992 Chicago, a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing, their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.

Aria, a young woman struggling with her identity, seeks out the help of a hypnotist to regain control of her life.

An immigrant family in the suburbs of Madrid receives a visit from their eldest sister, who has chosen convent life as her escape.

When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big—he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight. But he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

When four friends reunite for a night of fun in their hometown, a crisis forces them to confront the consequences of their lifestyles.

Jesse is a chat-addict teen. One day, an unknown gay friend proposes him a blind date on a public spot, but Jesse, unaware of how his friend physically looks, demands the use of a ‘red’ t-shirt in order to recognize him. What Jesse never thought was that, that day, one of his biggest fears would come true.

Under the leaden sky of a summer day, Eric goes to work to defend a great issue. But, blinded by stress, Eric is forgetting the most important thing...

María rehearses Antigone the same way as she criticizes the government's actions; Ismene listens fearfully just as Irving reluctantly accepts the official version of a lie. Love only has consciousness in its disappearance; in the end the causes will be known, and only the memory of those who refuse to forget will be left with no consequence.