Sarah Veltmeyer
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
