Age Range: 18

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Ballet Boys

Ballet Boys takes us through four years in the lives of three friends: the handsome and talented Lukas, girl-crazy Syvert, and strong, stolid Torgier. The only boy dancers in a world of girls, they strive to get into Norway’s most prestigious ballet academy. Beautifully constructed, slow-motion dance sequences and life-altering auditions provide a pulse of drama throughout their journey, but the film is ultimately the story of their friendship, their disappointments, victories, first loves, dreams, and doubts, as they change and grow over this formative period in their lives.
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Opposite Field

It’s easy to mistake theater seats for bleachers when following this incredible true story of a scrappy baseball team from Uganda as they take on the challenge of becoming the first African team in the Little League World Series. Armed with fierce determination and a deep love for the game, the team’s resilience is strong, even as each victory seems to be met with a series of unanticipated setbacks. Life off of the field is just as challenging, as many of the young teammates take on very adult responsibilities. But under the spirited leadership of their coach George and with each other to lean on, the team embodies an infections spirit that proves undefeatable. Cheering encouraged, and — sports fan or not — likely inevitable.
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Landfillharmonic

The world generates about a billion tons of garbage a year, much of it ending up in poor rural communities like Cateura, Paraguay, where over 2,000 families survive by separating garbage for recycling. When a teen music program there can’t afford new instruments, a garbage picker named Cola fashions a violin from an empty oil tin — thus inspiring the Recycled Orchestra. With instruments made out of trash, the orchestra performs locally first, then regionally, eventually flying to Rio de Janeiro, something the kids could never in their lives have imagined doing. The film follows the young musicians as they reach even greater heights, performing concerts in the US, Europe, and Asia — even sharing the stage with heavy metal super-group, Metallica. Taking us into the homes and lives of the teenage performers, Landfillharmonic is a deeply moving story about the transformative power of music, and the good that comes from taking what others discard to create something of beauty and value.
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Enchanted Kingdom 3D

The creators of BBC’s groundbreaking Walking with Dinosaurs 3D and Earth take us on a spell-binding journey through seven realms of Africa to reveal a natural world stranger, more magical, and more mystical than anything we might imagine. The films flows like a stream, with extraordinary time-lapse photography, sweeping aerial shots, and macro and micro lensed 3D propelling us from enchanted forests to the boiling edge of the underworld, from celestial ice-capped mountains and lava-spewing volcanoes, to crashing waterfalls and deep fantastical seas, as we experience some of the greatest gatherings of wildlife ever captured on film. With up-close-and-personal animal encounters and absolutely stunning scenery, this is an unspeakable beautiful film that presents nature in all her epic grandeur.
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Maja

During her grandfather’s wake, Maja is certain she still sees him: by the tree, in the dining room, and during a certain magical song.
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Daughters

When her mother becomes pregnant with a boy, 14-year-old Maple is forced into an arranged marriage. Unwilling to resign herself to this fate, she takes a dangerous path to freedom – but is she willing to pay the price?
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Beach Flags

Vida is an Iranian competitive lifeguard. She is determined to fight to win first place at an international competition in Australia. But with the arrival of Sareh, as fast and talented as she is, Vida is faced with an unexpected situation.
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Under Your Fingers

After the death of her grandmother, a young girl revisits the complicated history of women in her family from colonial Indochina to their isolation in transit camps.
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Slaves of the Rave

Whether it’s a rock concert, an opera, a jazz performance, or an electronic show, we’re all just slaves to the rave!
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World of Tomorrow

Oscar nominee! This tale of a little girl who is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future comes from acclaimed filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, SXSW, and AFI Festival.
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Shaun the Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas and Others

On the heels of his first feature (and Festival 2015 Opening Night premiere), comes Shaun the Sheep’s latest special! At the Country Fair, Shaun steals away with the Farmer and his canine companion, Bitzer. When he spies three crafty Llams making trouble at an auction, he knows his next great prank will be convincing the Farmer to buy them. But when the new Llama roommates get a bit too comfortable in their new home, things spiral out of control and Shaun is forced to oust the intruders and save the farm.
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Beyond Beyond

Inspired by Scandinavia folktales, Beyond Beyond spans epic worlds as it follows young hare Johan on a quest to find his mother after she passes from his world and into the land of the elusive Feather King. To keep them safe from the King’s reach, Johan’s father has ordered them to life on the high-seas. But when a rocky storm separates them, Johan uses the opportunity to venture to the kingdom in an attempt to bring back his mother. Along the way, he teams up with some unlikely conspirators, and discovers the connections between the world he knows and the one he’s always questioned. Artful landscapes and exquisitely detailed characters give wonderful dimension to Beyond Beyond, but it’s the profound tale of love and loss that guides this ship home.
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Long Way North

Though she is being groomed for proper Russian aristocracy, Sasha would much rather embark on adventures than attend fancy galas. When her grandfather disappears on his quest to conquer the North Pole, he becomes the laughing stock of St. Petersburg, and Sasha makes it her mission to restore the family legacy. Setting out on her own into uncharted waters, she joins a group of sailors as chilly as the icebergs that surround them. Together they face treacherous terrain and harsh conditions in order to find what’s been lost at sea. With unwavering courage and devotion, Sasha honors the path of those that came before her without losing the will to forge her own.
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Satellite Girl and Milk Cow

Festival award-winning Wolf Daddy director Chang Hyung-yun has created a wholly original, exuberantly outrageous, sci-fi love story unlike anything before it. An orbiting, out-of-commission female satellite picks up a lovelorn pop song on its radio antenna and descends to Earth to try to discover who could be the source of such heartfelt emotions. On the way, it is transformed into the titular Satellite Girl, complete with Astroboy-like rocket shoes and weapon-firing limbs, while the balladeer in question — a loser twenty-something playing at an open mic in a coffee shop — meets the fate that befalls all broken-hearted lovers: he is turned into a farm animal (albeit one who can walk around in a poorly-fitting human suit). There is more: a wizard in the form of a roll of toilet paper, an all-consuming incinerator monster, a pig witch. But as crazy as this sounds, it all comes together into a heartfelt and wildly entertaining commentary on the possibility for human connection in the crazy, mixed up, semi-random, post-modern world we live in.
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Mune

Plunge into a world of wonder, magic and mythology in this sumptuously animated CGI adventure about a land divided between the realms of day and night. As legend has it, the first Guardian of the Sun threw a harpoon into the cosmos and roped the sun to bring light and warmth to all of humanity. Then the Guardian of the Moon lured the moon to the Land of Darkness to provide a balance to the sun and supply the world with dreams. At a momentous ceremony to appoint the two new guardians, an accident seems to occur; the heir apparent is passed over, and the title Guardian of the Moon is bestowed on the waif-like Mune, a small and frightened forest faun who seems wholly unprepared to take on such a weighty responsibility. This news excites Necross, the nefarious ruler of the Underworld, a corrupted ex-guardian who decides to take advantage of Mune’s weakness and steal back the sun for himself. Now it is up to unlikely hero Mune and his friend Glim — a headstrong young girl with wax for skin — to save the sun and restore order to the world.
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Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet

The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, is among the most popular volumes of poetry ever written, selling over 100 million copies in forty languages since its publication in 1923. The timeless verses have been given enchanting new form in this painterly cinematic adventure about freedom and the power of human expression. Written and directed by Roger Allers (The Lion King), the film intersperses Gibran’s elegant verses with stunning animated sequences by Festival favorite filmmakers Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings the Blues), Bill Plympton (Guide Dog), and a host of award-winning animators from around the world. Set in a Mediterranean sea-side village, Kamila cleans house for exiled artist and poet Mustafa, but the more difficult job is keeping her free-spirited young daughter, Almitra, out of trouble. The three embark on a journey meant to end with Mustafa’s return home — but first they must evade the authorities who fear the truth in his words.
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Phantom Boy

From the directors of Festival 2011 favorite A Cat in Paris comes a new crime thriller set in — well, above — the streets of New York City. Leo has a secret. While most believe his serious illness has confined him to the hospital, he has the power to leave his body and go on urban escapes as a ghostly apparition. Recuperating on the floor below is Alex, a police officer injured while apprehending the Man With the Broken Face, a nefarious bandit who has taken control of the city’s power. Together, they must combine detective skills and supernatural powers to stop destruction. A mix of film noir and superhero fantasy, Phantom Boy is both heart-warming and heart-thumping, taking the action to new heights, making Leo a welcome addition to our iconic skyline.
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Shaun the Sheep the Movie

Shaun the Sheep, the woolly stop-motion star whose vocal range is limited to bleats and baas, first appeared in Nick Park’s 1999 Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit adventure A Close Shave and went on to become the UK’s most beloved cartoon character. In his first feature film, Shaun tires of the everyday routine on Mossy Bottom Farm and concocts a plan to lead his flock in rebellion. But be careful what you wish for. Events rapidly escalate out of control and Shaun’s mischief inadvertently leads to the hapless Farmer getting taken away to the Big City, where a bop on the head renders him an amnesiac. Fortunately, muscle memory has kept the Farmer’s shearing skills intact, so he is able to find a new life has a celebrity hair stylist. But Shaun is intent on bringing him back to the farm where he belongs — if only he can escape the clutches of the fearsome animal catcher!
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Adama

When his headstrong older brother definitely leaves their West African village and vanishes into the unknown, 12-year-old Adama impulsively decides to chase after him. Adama’s bold spirit guides him on a journey that takes him across oceans and borders, eventually finding himself in the midst of World War I’s infamous Battle of Verdun. Innovative animation makes use of sand, clay and sculpture to match the mystical elements of the story’s magical realism. Seamlessly combining the action with the rarely-seen, fascinating moment in history, Adama injects the classic journey story with high stakes, giving our hero more to overcome and even more to discover.
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The King and the Mockingbird

A pompous, cross-eyed king is in love with a painting of a shepherdess. But she has eyes for the dashing young chimney sweep in the next painting over — and so the two decide to elope, stepping out of their frames and into Grimault’s endlessly inventive and bizarre castle town, where elevators are beetles attached to telescoping antennas, buildings hang like barnacles from gargantuan Roman pillars, and the King gives chase in a throne-turned bumper car. This French animated gem originally began production in the late 1940s, but wasn’t completed until 1980.
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Amelia & Duarte

Explore the archive of Amelia and Duarte’s relationship from first sight to final good-bye.
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Coda

Death grants a man his last request, taking him on one final journey.
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Faded Finery (Oripeaux)

In a remote village, a little girl befriends a pack of coyotes. But the villagers brutally put an end to this relationship, unaware of the revolution that awaits.
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Symphony No. 42

Small events express irrational, surreal interactions between humans and nature, including an operatic penguin and a cat that can be used as a coat.
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My Milk Cup Cow

Nunu’s imaginative father tells her that there’s a cow at the bottom of her cup of milk. When she realizes this isn’t true, she starts to wonder what else he may have made up.
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Ugly Pretty Heart

A little girl allows a witch to grant her a wish to be beautiful, but her new face robs her life of its meaning. Only later does she come to understand that real beauty shines from within.
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Peripheria

A dystopian abandoned housing complex is taken over by wild dogs and a looming threat.
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Wellington Jr.

A tentative young hunter sets out into the wilderness under the tutelage of his seasoned father, but the rite of passage leads to increasingly surreal and grisly developments.
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