County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.
A group of young Tibetan boys seek retribution against a donkey that harmed one of their own, only to encounter escalating complications.
A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.
Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
An adolescent who fancies himself a sexy and conscientious young man abuses all his friends and family in a quest for his own independence.
On the eve of his 30th birthday, a gay slacker must overcome his crippling insecurities in order to find love.
One Night in Oslo follows a group of young people in Oslo’s Eastern parts on the night before Norway’s National Day, and reflects their expectations and emotions ahead of the celebration.
In the summer of 1986, three sixteen year old friends spend their Saturdays sneaking into movies at the local multiplex. But when one of the guys also invites the girl of his dreams to see the latest comedy, each of the teens learn more about life and love.
A quiet teen's life is shaken up when she's forced to be her arrogant neighbor's slave. He loves her, but they both have a lot to learn about trust.
Set amidst the 1999 student strikes in Mexico City, this coming-of-age tale finds two brothers venturing through the city in a sentimental search for an aging legendary musician. Shot in black-and-white, Güeros brims with youthful exuberance.
'Alan Smithee' is a film about a boy growing up. It delves into the darker side of what 'growing up' sometimes means: growing into your flaws, inevitably being met with the errors of your parents, and the necessity to make room for the pain. While Alan is surrounded by what is thought to be the American ideal, all the material comforts that should equate happiness, he learns that sometimes all we are is lost in the woods.
The meeting of two high school students, Jovanka and Magnus, who come from very different worlds. The two of them meet in a light but meaningful conversation, which slowly reveals their inner wounds and hidden longings. Behind the warm gaze and simple words, the seeds of a relationship grow that change their outlook on life, family, and hope.
At a high-school party, four friends find that losing their collective virginity isn't as easy as they had thought. But they still believe that they need to do so before college. To motivate themselves, they enter a pact to all "score" by their senior prom.
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.
In love with a girl that smells of oranges while in a complicated relationship with his father, Darek is gentle, strong and devoted to his little sister and their herd of horses. Darek's world is a story about the joy and pain of growing up in the isolated yet beautiful Lusatian Mountains. Here, horses are not expensive specimens of racing stables but beings you should care for and love. Not even that is enough in life though, as Darek finds out nearing the Summer's end, closing his childhood definitely. However, just like any ending, this is a start of something new.
During the summer of 1955, seventeen-year-old Eric Hansen embarks on a journey in his new town, a journey which will change his life forever.
Germany, 1944. Leyna, the 15-year old daughter of a white German mother and a black African father, meets Lutz, a compassionate member of the Hitler Youth whose father is a prominent Nazi soldier, and they form an unlikely connection in this quickly changing world.
At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot.
11-year-old Pola and her best friend Polly spend all their time at the local outdoor pool, Plitsch Platsch, where Polly's parents run a café. When the pool is closed due to budget cuts and Polly's family moves away, Pola suddenly finds herself alone. Refusing to give up, she teams up with her clever new classmate Rosalie to try to save the pool. Together, they start a petition and rally with the local children. Along the way, Pola discovers new friendships and learns that change is a part of growing up.