Childhood

Childhood

This collection of films from around the world - Europe, Asia, North America and Africa are represented - looks at childhood and adolescence. Featuring both fiction and non-fiction films, they examine themes such as vulnerability, identity, innocence and victimization, as well as tenacity, courage and resilience. Relationships are explored, from those within the family unit to friendships and burgeoning romances. The complexities and challenges of childhood are on full display, and the stories told are inspirational, life-affirming and deeply affecting. We hope you enjoy them.

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Childhood
  • Los Lobos

    “Los Lobos” thrives as an intimate window into what it means to confront immigrant life in piecemeal." Indiewire

    Berlin International Film Festival
    Busan International Film Festival
    Miami Film Festival

    A wonderfully realised look at the immigrant experience in the USA, the award-winning Los Lob...

  • Easy Lessons

    Locarno Film Festival
    Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
    Camerimage International Film Festival

    Dorottya Zurbó's insightful documentary explores the life of Kafia, a 17-year-old who fled to Hungary on her own, escaping from a child marriage in Somalia, at the age of fifteen. Sh...

  • I Love You I Miss You I Hope I See You Before I Die

    "Eva Marie Rødbro's arresting feature debut probes the inner and outer struggles of three generations of women in suburban Colorado Springs." Variety

    International Documentary Festival Amsterdam
    Cork International Film Festival
    Göteborg Film Festival

    A raw and emotionally impactful story of a y...

  • The Red Balloon

    Cannes Film Festival
    Berlin Internatonal Film Festival
    Vienna International Film Festival

    In this nearly wordless children’s fable, a red balloon forms a life of its own and starts to follow a young boy through his daily activities around the streets of Paris.

    France - 1956 - 34m
    Directed By:...

  • Flyer Boys

    Canada Shorts Film Festival
    San Jose International Short Film Festival
    Roma Short Film Festival

    Flyer Boys is the story of a Ukrainian grandfather and his Canadian-born grandson who find themselves at both generational and cultural odds as they spend long summer days working together delivering ...

  • Summer Rebels

    Thessaloniki International Film Festival
    Cinekid Film Festival
    Goa International Film Festival

    11-year-old Jonas (Eliás Vyskocil) longs to spend summer shooting rabbits and exploring the Slovakian countryside with his cool Grandpa Bernard, but his mother has already made alternate vacation plans...

  • Little Miss Westie

    DOC NYC
    BFI Flare Film Festival
    Bendfilm Film Festival

    Little Miss Westie follows two transgender siblings as they navigate puberty, school, family and transitioning during the Trump era. Ren is competing in the Little Miss Westie Pageant; her older brother Luca is coaching her on posing, make-u...

  • Rival

    "A superb performance from Yelizar Nazarenko propels this drama about a nine-year-old boy in increasingly dire straits." Screen Daily

    Busan International Film Festival
    AFI Fest
    Camerimage

    After being smuggled across the border from Ukraine into Germany, nine-year-old Roman (Yelizar Nazarenko) i...

  • Liyana

    "A lyrical work that's as bright and captivating as it is poignant." The Hollywood Reporter

    Dublin International Film Festival
    BFI London Film Festival
    Palm Springs Films Festival

    A Swazi girl embarks on a dangerous quest to rescue her young twin brothers in a tale is born of the imaginations o...

  • Wake Up On Mars

    "...a thoughtful film, handsomely made and eye-opening." The Hollywood Reporter

    Tribeca Film Festival
    Visions du Réel Film Festival
    Biografilm Festival

    A 10-year-old Roma boy living in Sweden attempts to come to terms with the mysterious resignation syndrome that has put his two sisters in a co...

  • Wander Life

    Wander Life is a tender portrait of middle school for introverts. Hinano, a soft spoken and unassuming student, hides from her school mates in fear of being bullied. One day, seeking shelter at the school's infirmary, Hinano befriends her school nurse Shindo. The two confide in each other and Shi...

  • Torrey Pines

    BFI Flare
    Cucalorus Film Festival
    Framline Film Festival

    Based on a true story, Torrey Pines is an inventive, wonderfully imaginative coming-of-age tale taking place in Southern California in the early 1990's. The animated film focusses on the filmmaker Clyde Petersen's childhood over the course...

  • Engkwentro (Clash)

    Winner Venice Film Festival
    Rotterdam International Film Festival
    Thessaloniki Film Festival

    Take 1917 and substitute the trenches of war with the winding alleys of a Filipino slum, and you've got Engwkentro which follows two teenage brothers attempting to escape a city controlled by an iron-fis...