Girls Feels: Skin Deep
Whether it's a once in a lifetime television audition or a gruelling boxing competition, for these young women the chance to shine is sometimes worth the risk.
Lise Akoka
Marit Weerheijm
Josza Anjembe
Sarah Veltmeyer
Amel Guellaty
Also Directed by Lise Akoka
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.
Angélique, 13, the eldest of her many brothers and sisters, lives in the suburb of Valenciennes. This day, at school, she is offered to pass an audition for a film.
Also Directed by Marit Weerheijm
When Kees (42) and his two children, Roos (12) and Willem (6), stop at a gas station for a quick toilet break, they all shortly separate and go their own way. In this short period of time, each of them witnesses something which makes them think about themselves. The young Willem accidently witnesses a couple making love in the bushes and doesn't know how to deal with this. Roos, a real 'tomboy', starts thinking about who she wants to be, after another girl confuses her for being a boy. Kees, a divorced man, thinks he has a flirt with a younger woman. When he finds out she wasn't flirting at all, he realizes that he has entered a new period of his life where he has to find his place. The three characters separately all experience a small tilt in their lives.
An 11-year old girl tries to find a way to give her suicidal brother love and joy.
Olaf, an engineering student, lives with his father Vincent. Once a renowned architect, now suffering from early Alzheimer’s disease. Olaf is struggling, because he wants to keep seeing Vincent as the man who knows everything. In the run-up to the birthday party Olaf organises for his dad, their surroundings grow darker; a concrete wall casts a shadow over their house from the garden and Vincent’s condition is deteriorating. Olaf will have to realise that living together in the present is more valuable than persistently clinging on to what used to be.
Inay (9) and her brother have a day off from school and they have to join their father who needs to go on a special trip. During this route, through the awakening city, Inay secretly tries to cause a delay. She knows that if they arrive late at their destination, she will be rewarded with loads of sweet desserts.
Also Directed by Josza Anjembe
Seyna, a young Cameroonian woman fascinated by French history, dreams of gaining citizenship of the country she so loves as soon as she reaches 18. Will it be just a formality, or a much tougher path?
Issa, 20 years old, is about to get out from jail, when he meets Gaetan a young inmate who has not served his sentence yet...
With their flair for engaging storytelling and a renowned love and respect for literature and the arts, the French Boys have something for everyone. Featuring five captivating stories set among rolling hills, village squares and the rooftops of Paris - the birthplace of cinema has never looked this inviting.
Unfamiliar stories that are universally relatable, these teenagers are put into situations which they have no experience deal with. A reflective anthology of French short films exploring the elation and heartbreak of not quite knowing who you are yet.
A few days after he's released from prison, twenty-year-old Issa encounters a new inmate, Gaëtan.
Also Directed by Sarah Veltmeyer
The brothers Andi (13) and Florist (20) live in a poor and desolate village in Kosovo. By selling milk they earn just enough money to support the family. When Andi discovers a card of a Dutch porn star in their bedroom, he needs a telephone to watch it. He is so obsessed with it, he doesn't notice his brother has chosen this day to say goodbye to him.
Two girls are being locked up on a balcony on a hot day, while a group of boys is waiting for them at a fair. When their messages become more and more searing, the balcony changes into a save space that the girls
These five award-winning coming of age short films offer a glimpse of how boys and young men tackle life's difficult desires: confronting one's demons, understanding sexual relationships, gaining the respect of one's father, or simply running away from it all. This is only the start of their complex formative years, where not every question has an answer, and not every answer makes sense.
Leon lives with his mother Ilona in an apartment tenement. Their life is simple, but they have each other. But as a neighbor transitions to something more, right under Leon’s nose, he feels the need to let his feelings known.
Whether it's playing games in a military zone, cheating at school tests, crossing borders for cheap thrills or doing whatever it takes to make illicit money - these boys know that with every risk, they move closer and closer to an irreversible jeopardy. Deftly exploring masculinity and peer-pressure, these five coming-of-age tales from France, the Netherlands and Lithuania from burgeoning new filmmakers demonstrate that sometimes young hearts can run dangerously free.
Also Directed by Amel Guellaty
On the surface Sarra leads an average life, the one her mother has planned out for her: the young Tunisian is taking sewing classes and preparing for marriage to a young man. But deep inside she is concocting a plan to escape this life – as BLACK MAMBA