VIFF: Short films about teens

A program of shorts is always going to be a mixed bag, but I was intrigued by the concept holding them together: High School Stories/Teenage Hell. There were seven shorts on the bill and I can highly recommend the first two, Educating Cooper and Capture the Flag.  In the beautiful black and white scenes of Capture the Flag, a young teen in the 1970s makes a quick stop at the ‘funny farm’ where her mom lives before heading the family’s annual capture the flag game. This year she’s determined not to get stuck on defence and to actually make something happen. In Educating Cooper, a nerdy kid comes back to school after his mom has died and for the first time makes a connection with the cute rebel girl he has been keeping an eye on. The rest of the films were a bit too ‘issue’ centred, with kids learning a lesson, or some kind of moral being driven home. These were well made but lacking in subtlety.  I also wish there had been a bit more variety in terms of language (all in English) and country of origin.

There is one show left Monday Oct 4th at Noon at Granville 7 Cinema 4.

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Is there, perhaps, a similar


Is there, perhaps, a similar program non-English-language shorts about teens? If not, there should be. It would certainly be fascinating to find out something about the challenges faced by teenagers in, say, Iran. Surely, the English-speaking world isn't the only place where teen angst is taken seriously.

Sam more than 13 years ago