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Writer-director Mikhail Mestetskiy looks to inject some life into the typical coming of age story with his upcoming Rag Union, the story of a young man whose chance encounter with a group of hard drinking, hard playing, accordion wielding quasi-anarchists leads to a personal awakening.The conventions of the coming of age film are so well established that there are really no surprises in the genre any more once the basic parameters are established, leaving success or failure all down to execution and the energy cast and crew bring to things. And energy this appears to have o'plenty. Take a look below!...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Berlinale receives record number of submissions.

A total of 63 feature-length and short films produced or co-produced in 35 countries have been invited to participate in the two Berlinale (Feb 11-21) competitions Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus.

The programme, aimed at children and youths, was selected from around 2,000 feature-length and short films submitted to Generation this year, which is more than in any year previously.

The selected films shed light on and challenge the nature of contradictions such as being child-like and being an adult, what is forbidden and what is permitted or the difference between subjective and objective reality.

“Young people world-wide are constantly confronted by dystopic realities not of their own making,” said Maryanne Redpath, head of Generation. “In the diverse films of this year’s programme we see them taking matters into their own hands.”

Generation 14plus

Synopses provided by festival

Wp = World Premiere / IP = International Premiere / Ep = European Premiere

6A (Sweden) Wp

By Peter Modestij

Bullying...

More than a dozen titles announced ahead of the unveiling of the full programme next month.

A total of 13 feature films produced or co-produced in 13 different countries have been selected to participate in competition in Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus.

The full programme for Generation will be announced in mid-January. The films selected so far feature young individuals whose inner lives are in turmoil.

Generation 14plus

Ani ve snu! (In Your Dreams!) – Czech Republic

By Petr Oukropec

Athletic, fast and fearless, 16-year-old Laura has little trouble conquering her hometown’s parkour routes and none at all keeping up with the boys in the process. However, she can only express her feelings for Luky, the parkour-king, in her vivid dreams. When he suddenly disappears, the line between dream and reality begins to blur.

World premiere

Born to Dance – New Zealand

By Tammy Davis

For the Maori teenager, Tu, it appears that hip-hop dance is the only hope for...

The Berlinale's announced a round of 13 titles lined up for Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus programs created for younger audiences. And each one of them comes from a different country, e.g., China (Yichun Wang's What’s in the Darkness), Russia (Mikhail Mestetskiy's Triapichniy Soyuz), India (Nagraj Manjule's Sairat), Chile (Roberto Doveris's Las Plantas), Australia (Rosemary Myers's Girl Asleep), Turkey (Barış Kaya and Soner Caner's Rauf), Poland (Marta Minorowicz's Zud), Sweden (Catti Edfeldt and Lena Hanno Clyne's Siv sover vilse) and so on. » - David Hudson...

The Berlinale's announced a round of 13 titles lined up for Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus programs created for younger audiences. And each one of them comes from a different country, e.g., China (Yichun Wang's What’s in the Darkness), Russia (Mikhail Mestetskiy's Triapichniy Soyuz), India (Nagraj Manjule's Sairat), Chile (Roberto Doveris's Las Plantas), Australia (Rosemary Myers's Girl Asleep), Turkey (Barış Kaya and Soner Caner's Rauf), Poland (Marta Minorowicz's Zud), Sweden (Catti Edfeldt and Lena Hanno Clyne's Siv sover vilse) and so on. » - David Hudson...