Around the world, young people are shaping history in the face of great resistance. But despite the setbacks, youth do not back down easily. Whether the cause is climate change, human rights, political change, gender equality, the Internet, privacy, or any other pressing cause, the world map is full of young people coming together, self-organizing, and fighting bravely. A few films in this year's program do the work of transporting us to the frontline of these fights, from Hong Kong to the UK, from the Netherlands to Lebanon, and then to other places too, where the next generation is taking a stand and introducing us to the future.
Films in this Pathway
A look into the lives of a brother and sister who fought on different sides of the uprising in Libya in 2011: he supported Gaddafi, she was one of the “rebels”. As war flares up in the years that follow, their fervor for justice is challenged.
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Four young women in Beirut document a turbulent period in recent Lebanese history, from the uprising against the ruling regime to the subsequent lockdown and then, just months later, the gigantic explosion at the port.
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Young people all over the world are opposing inequality, climate disruption, and other injustices. Melati, an Indonesian activist combating plastic pollution, travels the world visiting courageous fellow activists of her own generation. What motivates them?
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Despite mass protests, in August 2020 Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner of the Belarus presidential election. A portrait of the courage of the protesters, as seen through the eyes of three perceptive theater practitioners.
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In the highlands of the Mexican state Guerrero, 14-year-old Tavo gives his friends weapons training. It’s a daily reality in a region where villagers are increasingly taking the defense of their community into their own hands.
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Seven artists and an activist doctor—all HIV positive—fight against the invisibility of AIDS in Brazil. Prejudice is rampant, the infection rate is rising, and people are dying from a disease that doesn’t have to be fatal.
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The 2019-2020 academic year was one of great upheavals for final year students at Oakland High School. It was the year of the pandemic, George Floyd’s murder, and their battle to abolish the school police force.
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A gentle and intimate portrait of a small community of young queer people in a Georgian city, formed around the local women’s football team. Here in this self-made family, shielded from outside threats, they can share love and friendship.
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The final part of Maasja Ooms’ shocking trilogy about the failing Dutch youth welfare services. She follows 22-year-old Jason as he undergoes trauma therapy and pursues his mission to save others from suffering in the same way.
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Stimulating, associative portrait of the Senegalese activist Omar Blondin Diop, who was deeply involved in the tumultuous 1960s and also had a small role playing himself in Jean-Luc Godard’s La chinoise.
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An Indian film student writes letters to her forbidden lover. Her pain, dreams, and observations about the changing political climate reflect those of many of her fellow students. Fact and fiction intertwine in this Cannes award-winning film.
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A romance between two transmasculines who met during the pandemic. Through the deserts of Vegas and LA, far from other people, with just a car, some cash, and a supply of testosterone, they expose the integral dynamics of masculinity and femininity.
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A young woman on the run from the repressions in Belarus ends up in Saint Petersburg. Her story, told in an uninterrupted flow, offers a compelling picture of the aggression, absurdity, and threat of a dictatorship.
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