Film Categories: Youth

  • Critical Mass

    Shot on Super 8 and blown-up to 16mm for a dreamlike effect, “Critical Mass” is a strange, poetic vision of childhood. From its first vision sequence to its consequential conclusion, the film follows one boy’s wanderings, both internal and external, as he tries to make sense of his world. Life, death, time and place become interchangeable when he happens upon a dead crow, a barren hilltop, and a small boy who serves as a catalyst for his actions. “A low key tale of guttersnipe mysticism… ‘Critical Mass’ is heavy on mood and symbolism, with Cannizzaro drawing some beautiful compositions. What’s…

  • Ladies Room

    “Ladies Room” reveals young women in their most intimate environment – the bathroom. From sterile public schools to underground warehouse raves and glitzy hotel rooms, it takes an insightful, playful and provocative look at a group of NYC girls in a variety of situations and bathrooms. Seen through the lens of fiction, documentary and satire, the range of their experiences and emotions – straddling strength and vulnerability – defines growing up female. Special Jury Award, Arizona International Film Festival, 2004

  • Man Who Loved the Bears, The

    Grady Mutzel works nine-to-five, five days a week, and gets the same bus home every day. But he doesn’t take his work home with him. Instead, Grady develops an affection for bears which becomes his obsession. He organizes candy treats in order to feed the bears at the zoo, because “we all need a treat every once in a while.”

  • Snip

    Shards of film fly off the screen while the music of Fats Waller plays on! In this short abstract film, coloured ink and small pieces of film stock are heaped directly on the film’s surface. “This film was made in the weeks preceding the birth of my first child. It was my intention to create a fast-moving, colourful style that a very young child could respond to. I’ll see in the years that follow if I was right or not,” Steven Woloshen.

  • Dizzy Lizzy

    Elizabeth is a girl with a secret… she sees fairies. Needless to say, this makes her something of a pariah with the neighbourhood kids. To make matters worse, every fairy she “rescues” turns up dead. Where do these mythological creatures come from? And why, despite Lizzy’s careful and loving ministrations, do they keep dying? Only her spinster Auntie Ann knows for sure.

  • In Bobcaygeon

    A moving portrait of one boy’s strength of character in the face of challenges associated with having microtia, a birth defect that causes severe hearing loss. “John Morgan, the 10-year-old subject of the short, artful documentary In Bobcaygeon, has microtia, a birth defect that caused him to be born with only one fully developed ear. There’s nothing wrong with John’s mouth, though – he talks a lot, about his microtia, about playing minor hockey and about the camel his family keeps in the backyard. The film’s vaguely avant-garde construction may pose a challenge for younger viewers, but there’s an unpretentious…

  • Standing Up

    At a surreal Texas bus-stop we meet Kate, a young punk who is befriended by Dorothy, an eccentric older woman. In this unlikely pairing, expectations and identity are questioned.

  • tangly wood

    “Tangly wood” is the story of Loupe, a young puppet artist who spends her days collecting found objects to create her art. One day, she finds something that brings back a memory and drives her into a frenzy of painting and creation.

  • Good Stuff

    “Good Stuff” is a dark comedy about an alienated, gothic private school girl who discovers that she has a terminal illness. The film finds irony and humour in dealing with the cards fate has dealt you. Awards: Best Short Film, Chicago International Film Festival; Bronze Award, Houston WorldFest

  • Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf

    An Arab-American girl tries to come to terms with her sexuality while balancing the mores of two different cultures. As she faces a series of trials on confrontations, will she shed her passivity, or will her spirit be broken? Arabic/Hebrew with English sub-titles. Selected Screenings: 2006 Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah