Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Glasgow >> 2011 >> Youth Film Festival

Running ahead of the main film festival, from 6 to 16 February, this fun-packed event features some great films for people of all ages. There are lots of laughs and some charming animation for the very young, plus films that explore some of the complex issues facing older teens today. Associated with this strand are a wide range of fantastic events, from discussion groups to filmmaking classes. It's also a great place to look out for the talent of the future.

View other Glasgow Film Festival Films by strand: Best Of British, Beyond Bollywood, Ceol's Craic, European Cinema, Fashion In Film, FrightFest, Galas, Ginger Rogers Retrospective, Great Scots, It's a Wonderful World, Meryl Streep Retrospective, Music and Film, Out of the Past, Short Film Festival, Stranger Than Fiction, Superheroes in Glasgow, The Stasi Are Among Us, The State Of Independents

Son Of Babylon and The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec

Abel (Country: Mexico; Year: 2010; Director: Diego Luna; Writer: Diego Luna and Augusto Mendoza; Stars: Christopher Ruíz-Esparza, Karina Gidi, Gerardo Ruíz-Esparza, José María Yazpik)

A peculiar young boy, blurring reality and fantasy, assumes the responsibilities of a family man in his father's absence.

Full Review

Boy (Country: New Zealand; Year: 2010; Director: Taika Waititi; Writer: Taika Waititi; Stars: Taika Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone), Official Site

A Boy and his brother find their fantasy version of their dad is somewhat different to the real deal.

Full Review

Beastie (Country: UK; Year: 2011; Director: Alan Stockdale)

A dance performance inspired by Lord Of The Flies.

The Be All And End All (Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Bruce Webb; Writer: Steve Lewis, Tony Owen; Stars: Eugene Byrne, Neve McIntosh, Liza Tarbuck, Josh Bolt)

when a 15 year old boy is hospitalised with a heart condition and told he has only a short time to live, it's up to his best friend to fulfil his wish and make sure he doesn't die a virgin.

The Book Of Masters (Country: Russia; Year: 2009; Director: Vadim Sokolovsky; Writer: Vadim Sokolovsky, Anna Starobinets; Stars: Maksim Loktionov, Mariya Andreeva, Liya Akhedzhakova, Leonid Kuravlyov, Artur Smolyaninov, Irina Apeksimova, Olga Aroseva)

A young stonecutter is sent on a mission by an evil queen who intends to sacrifice the beautiful princess who has captured his heart.

Full Review

Wasted On The Young and Abel

Dancing Dreams (Tanzträume) (Country: Germany; Year: 2010; Director: Rainer Hoffmann, Anne Linsel; Writer: Anne Linsel; Stars: Pina Bausch, Bénédicte Billet, Josephine Ann Endicott)

A documentary following top choreographer Pina Bausch through an inspiring year's work re-staging her successful Kontakthof show with a cast of teenagers.

Days Of Harvest (Country: Italy; Year: 2010; Director: Marco Righi; Writer: Marco Righi; Stars: Marco d'Agostin, Lavinia Longhi)

Seventeen-year-old Elia’s summer is spent harvesting the grapes on his parent’s farm, hen the beautiful Emilia comes to help with the harvest his life is thrown into turmoil.

The Disappearance Of Haruhi Suzumiya (Suzumiya Haruhi No Shôshitsu) (Country: Japan; Year: 2010; Director: Tatsuya Ishihara, Yasuhiro Takemoto; Writer: Fumihiko Shimo, based on the books by Nagaru Tanigawa; Stars: Sayaka Aoki, Minori Chihara, Yuko Goto)

When his friend vanishes and nobody else even remembers she existed, a schoolboy must travel through time to solve the mystery.

The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Les Aventures Extraordinaires D'Adèle Blanc-Sec) (Country: France; Year: 2010; Director: Luc Besson; Writer: Luc Besson, from the comics by Jacques Tardi; Stars: Louise Bourgoin, Mathieu Amalric, Gilles Lelouche, Jean-Paul Rouve, Jacky Nercessian, Philippe Nahon, Nicolas Giraud, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Gérard Chaillou, Serge Bangdassarian)

When a pterodactyl attacks Paris, an intrepid young journalist rises to the challenge.

Full Review

Eleanor's Secret (Country: France, Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Dominique Monfery)

An animated tale about a little boy who finds that the characters in the books in his deceased Aunt Eleanor's library are alive, and must battle to save them.

Full Review

Yogi Bear and Paul

Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers (Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers,) (Country: Japan; Year: 2009; Director: Kôkyô Shihen Eureka Sebun: Poketto Ga Niji De Ippai; Writer: Tomoki Kyôda; Stars: Keiji Fujiwara, Kaori Nazuka, Yûko Sanpei)

A teenager enlists in the army and leans to drive a giant mech as part of his search for his kidnapped friend, but a subsequent alien invasion makes everything more complicated.

Heartbeats (Les Amours Imaginaires) (Country: Canada; Year: 2010; Director: Xavier Dolan; Writer: Xavier Dolan; Stars: Xavier Dolan, Niels Schneider, Monia Chokri, Anne Dorval, Marie-Christine Cormier, Louis Garrel, Perrette Souplex), Official Site, Trailer

Two close friends find the bond between them tested when both fall in love with the same man.

Full Review

King Of Thorn (Country: Japan; Year: 2009; Director: Kazuyoshi Katayama; Writer: Kazuyoshi Katayama, Akiko Yajima; Stars: Sendai Eri, Kana Hanazawa, Toshiyuki Morikawa)

160 people enter cryogenic suspension to survive a deadly virus, only to find when they awake that the planet has been overrun by deadly plants.

Lord Of The Flies (Country: UK; Year: 1963; Director: Peter Brook; Writer: Peter Brook, based on the book by William Golding.; Stars: James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, Hugh Edwards, Roger Elwin, Tom Gaman)

A group a schoolboys stranded on an island quickly turn to savagery and fiercely hierarchical behaviour in this adaptation of William Golding's classic tale.

Full Review

Make Believe (Country: Us, Japan, South Africa; Year: 2010; Director: J. Clay Tweel; Writer: Cleven S. Loham; Stars: Ed Alonzo, Albert M. Belmont Jr, Gay Blackstone, Eugene Burger, Lance Burton, Joan Caesar)

Six young stage magicians compete in the teen world championship in this feelgood documentary.

Eleanor's Secret and The Book Of Masters

Mean Girls (Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Mark S Waters; Writer: Tina Fey, based on the novel by Rosalind Wiseman; Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan, Jonathan Bennett, Daniel Franzese)

Teen comedy, where the new girl on the block tries to fit into an image-obsessed high school.

Full Review

Neukölln Unlimited (Country: Germany; Year: 2010; Director: Agostino Imondi, Dietmar Ratsch; Writer: Agostino Imondi; Stars: Hassan Akkouch, Lial Akkouch, Maradona Akkouch)

Refugee siblings threatened with deportation seek to survive through performance art.

Paul (Country: UK, France; Year: 2011; Director: Greg Mottola; Writer: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg; Stars: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver)

Two British comic book geeks visiting America pick up a hitchhiking alien and determine to help him return to his mothership, but the FBI are on their tail.

Full Review

Son Of Babylon (Country: Iraq; Year: 2009; Director: Mohamed Al-Daradji; Writer: Mohamed Al-Daradji, Jennifer Norridge, Mithal Ghazi; Stars: Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir Al-Majid)

In the days following the fall of Saddam, a Kurdish grandmother takes her grandson on the search for his father.

Full Review See: Sundance Film Festival 2010: Days Seven and Eight

Soul Boy (Country: Kenya, Germany; Year: 2010; Director: Hawa Essuman, Tom Tykwer; Writer: Billy Kahora; Stars: Nordeen Abdulghani, Christopher Abuga, Rose Adhiambo, Jones Onyango Ajwala, Consolata Apondi, Micheal Babu, Katherine Damaris, Lucy Gachanja, John Githui, Frank Kimani, Gilbert K. Lukalia, Clementina Makokha, Lydia Makori, Aida Mulafu, Sharleen Njeri), Official Site

A boy goes in search of his father's lost soul.

Full Review

Lord Of The Flies and Soul Boy

The Thief Of Baghdad (Country: UK; Year: 1940; Director: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell; Writer: Miles Malleson, Lajos Biró; Stars: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez)

A wily yet charming young thief helps a wounded king to win back his throne.

The Ugly Duckling (Country: Russia; Year: 2010; Director: Garry Bardin)

A vivacious stop-motion animated version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.

Vicky The Viking (Wickie Und Die Starken Männer) (Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Michael Herbig; Writer: Michael Herbig, based on the book by Runer Jonsson.; Stars: Jonas Hämmerle, Waldemar Kobus and Günther Kaufmann)

Dismissed by his father as too weak to be a proper Viking, young Vicky finds that his shrewd intelligence allows him to come into his own when a rival clan kidnaps his friends.

Wasted On The Young (Country: Australia; Year: 2010; Director: Ben C Lucas; Writer: Ben C Lucas; Stars: Oliver Ackland, Adelaide Clemens, Alex Russell)

After a girl is attacked at a party the social fabric of her high school begins to crumble, with dangerous consequences all round.

Full Review

West Is West (Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Andy DeEmmony; Writer: Ayub Khan-Din; Stars: Jimi Mistry, Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Vanessa Hehir, Emil Marwa, Lesley Nicol, Vijay Raaz, Aqib Khan, Ila Arun, Zita Sattar)

Sequel to East is East, in which the family return to their roots in Pakistan.

Full Review See: Andy DeEmmony and Aqib Khan on West Is West

Mean Girls and Boy

Yogi Bear (Country: US, New Zealand; Year: 2010; Director: Eric Brevig; Writer: Jeffrey Ventimilia, Joshua Sternin; Stars: Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake, Tom Cavanagh, Anna Faris, T.J. Miller, Andrew Daly, Nathan Corddry), Trailer

Yogi and his friend Boo Boo join forces with Ranger Smith to foil a plot to sell off Jellystone's trees.

Full Review