The Festival is collaborating with the Hellenic Film Academy for a special screening of Greek short films aimed at a teenage audience, featuring emerging, award-winning filmmakers. A discussion will follow, addressing the films and the important themes they explore.

Yuck! Adults kiss each other on the mouth, and children find it disgusting! What’s more, you can see it from afar: when people are about to kiss, their lips become all pink and shiny. Little Léo makes jokes about it, as do the other kids at the summer camp. But he has a secret he won’t tell his friends: his own mouth has actually begun glistening. And, in reality, Léo desperately wants to give kissing a try.

Together with a diverse group of teenage girls, the Ukrainian Emilia is joining an outdoors climbing camp for the first time in her new home country. This adventurous experience will be extra challenging for Emilia since she fled from Ukraine to Belgium one year ago together with her family. But soon she gets to know the other girls, learns to express herself better and pushes her borders. During this extraordinary week of new experiences, she tries to get a grip on herself, the group and surrounding nature.

Mona is an imaginative teenager who — like her brother — struggles with ASD. She is on the eve of a giant step in her life: she will make the transition to mainstream education. She has to say goodbye to her classmates and make new friends. An exciting new world is opening up for her, but that creates extra tension.

The kids from Wolves HC are about to play their first major handball tournament. Surrounded by professional players, talent scouts and potential sponsors, the Wolves are on the rise. But, the games are suddenly interrupted when adults question who’s really allowed to play.

The new school year brings new challenges for 14 year old Sana. She is starting at a new school where she will learn all the ins and outs of the world of baking. In the evenings she is training hard for her very first international boxing match. In a couple of weeks she and some of her teammates have been invited to fight at the Olympic Center in Pisa. How will she cope, combining these two big passions that are both demanding a lot of her? Will she manage to juggle both and succeed in finding her footing?

Teenagers Sofia and Jamilla are tricked into transporting a sports bag. When they discover a gun in the bag they are thrown into a struggle that both challenges their friendship and puts them in danger.

When Fien discovers that her sister Hannah is threatened by a vicious crocodile that is making her very skinny and sick, her world is turned upside down.

13-year-old Nastia, an elite gymnast from Kyiv. After winning the Ukrainian championship with her tightknit group of friends, Nastia is forced to flee to Germany with her grandmother due to war in Ukraine. In the unfamiliar town of Gelsenkirchen, Nastia must start over and cope with the uncertainty of whether she will ever see her parents and friends again. But when she joins a German gymnastics team, Nastia finds hope and begins to build a new life for herself. This moving story celebrates resilience, friendship, and the power of sports to bring people together.

A few nigella seeds tucked in the palm of her hand, 6-year-old Dounia leaves Aleppo with the Princess of Aleppo’s help and travels towards a new world.