Teen Screen program
This year's Teen Screen program, which will be assessed by a special teen jury, does not raise the question of how to be an adult. Nor does it teach ‘proper’ life. The films in the program are focused on the present moment. They prove that something good can happen on any of the darkest days. Something to be remembered with pleasure.
This is what two films about migrant children are focused on. ‘Oskar and Lilli: Where no one knows us’ by Arash Riahi tells about refugees in Austria. Two children, 8-year-old Oskar and 13-year-old Lilli, enter the social protection system after their mother tried to commit suicide. Siblings are taken to different foster families, but they swear not to lose each other. Despite the story being very dark, Arash Riahi leaves room for moments of joy and happiness.
‘The Wolves’ by Samuel Kishi Leopo also tells the story of two migrant siblings. But their moments of joy are imaginary. Life of Max and Leo is difficult: their mother works two jobs; they cannot leave the apartment; the only contact with relatives is possible with the help of their voices, recorded on tape. They imagine themselves being wolves, and the film depicts the fantastic adventures of Max and Leo through deliberately childish animation.
‘H is for Happiness’ by John Sheedy chooses a completely different approach to the combination of sadness and joy as characterizing the complexity of life in its fullness. His film offers to look at the world through the eyes of 12-year-old Candice Phee, who resembles restless Pippi Longstocking. Unlike the girl from the Swedish fairy tales, Candice has parents and her main goal is to reconcile them and make them happy.
The same atmosphere of restlessness prevails in ‘Sune – Best Man’ by Jon Holmberg. In an hour and a half, the film manages to combine elements of an absurd comedy, a road movie, a story from the school life, a science fiction thriller, and a family drama. And it all started with a difficult dilemma for Sune: to go on a field trip with the class, where he will confess his feelings to Sophie, or to be a best man at his grandfather's wedding. The problem is that these two events happen on the same day.
The program presents another highly energetic film - Jonathan Elbers’ ‘The Club of Ugly Children’. Following the tradition of young adult dystopia (‘The Hunger Games’, ‘The Divergent’, ‘The Maze Runner’), Jonathan Elbers creates a world where ugly children are persecuted – concentration camps are set up for them and they are forbidden to go to school. However, ‘The Club of Ugly Children’ fascinatingly reduces to absurdity all the genre constructs so that all that is left to do is to admire the film.
Caroline Hellsgard chooses a more serious tone for her film ‘Sunburned’, which tells about the first romantic feelings in the world of economic inequality. The 13-year-old Claire enjoys vacation in Spain with her mother and sister. However, Claire’s relatives are more focused on their lives, so she is literally left alone. While walking at the beach, Claire meets Amram, Senegalese refugee who works as a seller.
Sangye, the protagonist of ‘Young Sangye’ by Guodong Zhang, also faces injustice. The boy lives somewhere in Tibet and collects rare mushroom Cordyceps to earn money for a pictured encyclopedia. But the man who has promised to buy it deceives Sangye and leaves for the city. The boy starts a desperate journey to restore justice.
