Film Categories: Youth

  • Opus 1 No 1

    This film, in Sonata form, traces the development and final performance of a Beethoven chamber piece by a trio of very gifted young musicians.

  • Opus 2

    “Opus 2” is an intimate and exciting film portrait of three very gifted young musicians – violinist Barry Shiffman, 15, pianist Yuval Fichman, 17, and cellist Wendy Morton, 18 – who form a chamber music trio under the guidance of noted teacher and music coach, Mildred Kenton. The film is a sequel to “Opus 1 No 1” and follows the three musicians on a rigourous journey through the prestigious Canadian Music Competitions, as they progress from the regional preliminaries to the gruelling national finals. Along the way, the film explores their very specialized world, offering insights into its many pressures,…

  • Our Hero: The True Story of Virgil Huffenmeister

    “Our Hero” is a mockudrama chronicling the life and times of Virgil Huffenmeister. The film traces his story from young orphan to international superstar and his eventual downfall. This short comedy touches on such subjects as the death penalty, instant celebrity, and Elvis Presley.

  • Avocado Vegetarian Turtle, The

    A scientific report about a bizarre, new creature and its life cycle, told from a child’s point of view. On one level it is amusing, on another, the new creature can be seen as a symbol of healing the fragmentation of living with and within different worlds.

  • Personal Effects

    “Personal Effects” is a film about Alison, a sixteen-year-old, who moves into an all-male rooming house. When she realizes that her recurring dream of someone appearing in her room at night is not, in fact, a dream, and that her underwear has been gradually disappearing, she undertakes to find out what’s going on. The unexpected results of her investigation reverberate and come full circle years later, challenging a simple explanation of the events in the house along gender lines and showing, in retrospect, the consequences of Alison’s impulse to forgive.

  • My Grandpa Ivan

    A professional soccer player looks back on summers in a small Bulgarian town, recalling the deep bond he shared with his grandfather, who forever shaped his love for the game.

  • and the story remains

    After years of silence, a woman returns to a memory she was once forbidden to recall. As she develops forgotten images, the past surfaces in fragments of light, grain, and the slow emergence of a face. The film lingers between past and present, exploring whether enforced silence can wound more deeply than the trauma itself.

  • Night and fog in Kurdistan

    Night and Fog in Kurdistan is a documentary by a Kurdish female filmmaker that follows seven Yazidi teenage girls who survived the 2014 ISIS genocide. The film traces their five-year journey from refugee camps in Turkey to resettlement in Europe, showing the effects of genocide, displacement, and the challenges of migration. Using illustration, self-storytelling, and first-person perspectives, the film lets the girls share their own experiences of survival and adaptation.

  • Let’s Rap

    “Women, speak your mind!” says one of the rappers in this collage of women of all ages and races who use the directness and power of rap music to express their views. These women, who rap in their own words about their own lives and beliefs present us with a lively, musical and often comical look at key issues facing women today. Let’s Rap! brims with energy, from its dynamic editing, witty set designs and colourful costumes right down to the pulsating beat which underlies its enthusiastic performances. Let by the powerful Montreal rap artist Freaky D, one of Quebec’s…

  • Catch Up!

    A chubby man enters a surreal world as he tries to catch his cat.