3500+ Films - 2.5 million words – 1 million viewers! Founder and Curator Carmela selects some of our most entertaining, powerful and inspiring films about Teens at We Are Moving Stories. These include friendship, coming of age, high school, discovery, overcoming adversity - and sports.
Total length of this section: 23 films.
<FRIENDSHIP>
Brave Little Army - The bold new girl at school inspires three classmates to follow her down a blissful path of self-realization, where they stumble upon a dark truth that forever galvanizes their friendship. Length: 5.54 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Michelle D'Alessandro Hatt:
Afterglow - A pessimistic teenager girl reconnects with an old friend. This encounter results in a life-changing experience for her. Length: 4.11 minutes. Writer/Director/Editor/Animator Ariana Bolaños:
Cleo - Seventeen-year-old Cleo survived a hit and run accident in which both her parents lost their lives. Her grandmother tries to offer Cleo and her brother a warm and comfortable home, but she ends up bearing the brunt of a rebellious teenager who searches for comfort with the mysterious Leos. Length: 1 hour 46 minutes. Writer/Director Eva Cools:
Pepperoni - A self-conscious middle schooler seeks the help of a famous wrestler after a school bully threatens to expose his darkest secret: his pepperoni nipples. Length: 16:59 Writer/Director/Editor Jacob Staudenmaier:
Two Breaths - After a man-made disaster decimates an evergreen island, a stranded 11-year-old girl must find the tenacity to leave behind her home with the help of an unlikely friend – the majestic Manta Ray. Length: 19:34 Producer/Cinematographer Timur Guseynov:
<COMING OF AGE>
Virgin Territory - a queer, questioning coming-of-age story about a teenage girl’s sexual awakening and exploration. Length: 14.50 minutes. Writer/Director Emily Robinson:
Prom Night - Billie, a 17-year-old non-binary teenager, prepares to attend a formal for underage queer youth for the first time. As they choose their outfit and get their hair dyed, they reveal how they navigate the awkwardness of adolescence while also dealing with the anxieties that come with being young and queer. Length: 10.47 minutes. Director Sam McGowan:
That Party That One Night - It's the last week of high school and socially and sexually awkward Melissa has just been ditched by her friends at a party and finds herself alone with her crush. Length: 14 minutes. Length: 10 minutes. Writer/Director Mylissa Fitzsimmons:
Minor Setback - High school dropouts and BFF's, Jessie and Angela come up with a brilliant excuse to skip out on work so they can spend a day at the beach. Laying in the sand, smokin' fatties and eating donuts is so close they can almost taste it... until something unexpected goes down. Length: 13:27 minutes. Writer/Director Augustine Frizzell:
Ant - Police brutality protests boil in South Central Los Angeles as four teens plan a robbery and find themselves in a comic book store. Length: 97 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Mischa Meyer:
Bleeding (Sangría) - Jesús is a 15-year-old boy who dreams of recording a homemade horror movie, starring Lara, his platonic love. The odds seem decisively stacked against him. An overprotective and extremely religious mother, classmates who bully him and a strange disease that forces him to use a wheelchair all stand in his way. But on Halloween night, they will all become part of his macabre film. Length: 19:47 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Andrea Segarra Bueno:
Rich Kids is a 97 minute film about a group of troubled teens from a low-income community break into “Los Ricos”, the local mansion with a border fence, in order to forget their difficult lives and experience a different one. Laura Somers and David Saldaña write:
You can read the full We Are Moving Stories interview about RICH KIDS Here:
Dogs & Tacos - is a 16 minute drama. Alma Pantaleon’s plan of getting through her after-school work shift and heading home to check on her younger siblings is derailed when a former boyfriend deposits his little brother in her care and speeds away with the police on his tail. Steve Bachrach and Ceindy Mata write:
You can read the full We Are Moving Stories interview about DOGS AND TACOS Here:
EKAJ - is an 80 minute gritty and truthful portrait of a young man searching for purpose and love. Cati Gonzalez writes:
You can read the full We Are Moving Stories interview about EKAJ Here:
The Last Stop - What do you do when a good kid goes bad? Length: 1 hour 51 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer/Editor Todd Nilssen:
<DISCOVERY>
Girl Knight is an 11 minute film about sixteen-year-old ISABEL, who is not your ordinary knight. She clanks around her lonely life trapped in her own armour until she meets DELILAH, a goth princess, in detention at school. Edging around each other at first, these two wounded souls learn to love by finding the courage to let their guard down. Length: 11 minutes. Writer/Director Deborah Attoinese writes:
Wilderness Quest - A teen’s solo journey through a spiritual rite of passage tragically changes the trajectory of his life. Length: 5.34 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer/Editor KELLY NEEDLEMAN is a 17-year-old film director, producer, actor, photographer and entrepreneur based in California.
Bad Kids is a short film about a gang of teenagers in the 1950's. The leader of the gang, Danny, has a deadly secret. Mikey and the rest of the group need to decide if they are going to follow Danny, or hang him out to dry before he turns on them...Length: 10 minutes. Producer Joseph Matarrese:
Knowing Nothing Cold - follows a group of teenagers living in the American Midwest of the 1970s as they attempt the impossibility of a graceful entrance into adulthood. Length: 93 minutes. Writer/Director Jeff Kao:
Red Rover - Two teenagers from a remote religious community travel to town in search of shelter after being told by their Evangelical parents that an asteroid will soon destroy the earth.
15 minutes. Writer/Director Brooke Goldfinch:
Zula the Infinite - A small town teenager who steals mail from her father’s post office, discovers a letter from a troublesome passer through. Length: 16 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Jillian Dudley:
<OVERCOMING ADVERSITY>
Family Rewritten - Despite battling Cystic Fibrosis, Camilla, age 16, identifies as a typical middle-class American teenager until the thread that holds her family together suddenly snaps. Just months before her 18th birthday Camilla finds herself in foster care, but instead of being ashamed, she makes a conscious decision to not let her situation define her. Length: 13 minutes. Director & Producer Yasmin Mistry:
<SPORTS>
Swim Team - chronicles the extraordinary rise of a competitive swim team of diverse teens on the autism spectrum, capturing a moving quest for inclusion, independence and a life that feels winning. Length: 4.56 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Lara Stolman:
MIRACLE IN MALIBU is a short, audience award winning documentary film introducing surf therapy to families of very special children. Karen Shaver writes:
You can read the full We Are Moving Stories interview about MIRACLE IN MALIBU Here:
Two Four Six - These kids are no stars. Not yet. Set mainly in present day Dallas, TX and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, this vérité documentary features three main characters at three different stages of the same process. Supported by a nonprofit, these extremely tall teenagers come to the United States from Haiti using basketball as means to get an education and help their own country change.
Length: 87 minutes. Director/Producer Leyla Nedorosleva: