Harley, a twenty-year-old college student, visits her doctor to share how she's been feeling off lately. A recent culmination of events has caused her to spiral. Her everyday life turns toward a cold path as she falls into an obstructive rhythm of coping and self sabotage. Plagued by traumatic events in her past, she reaches out for help as she feels she has nowhere else to turn.
Based on the classic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, "Hyde" tells the story of successful defense attorney Edward Hyde, who has the perfect family to go along with his perfect job...even though he finds himself struggling to balance the two at times. Once a horrible tragedy strikes, Edward begins to go down a dark path that leads him to spiral out of control...transforming into something else entirely.
Nore and Jonna meet again by chance in their early twenties and move in together. In conversations, it becomes clear that Nore was never the precocious "femme fatale" who admired as well as bullied Jonna, but experienced sexual assault as a young girl. As Nore struggles to reclaim the narrative for herself, a genuine friendship develops.
Preschool to Prison is a compelling examination of how the United States public school system is built and operated like prisons. Zero-tolerance policies are used to justify suspension and arrests that set up a pathway to send children of color and children with special needs from school to prison. Children are being suspended, restrained, dragged, physically manhandled, and subsequently arrested for minor offenses such as throwing candy on a school bus. These personal accounts from people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline give riveting tales about the generational impact on society.
Kira finds it difficult to wake up, as sleep paralysis and psychological trauma from her childhood keep her in an endless cycle of nightmares.
Following a traumatic event at her grandparents' house, 10-year-old Rose embarks on an obsessive quest to see and understand the forbidden world of adults by herself.
Humans are story-telling creatures. By thinking, we all unconsciously "author" a self-story in our heads. Most often, the characters and plot of our story is framed by negative experiences from childhood. These painful "stories" then determine our emotions, leading to unhealthy stress, and changes in body chemistry. This is how a person's self-story can turn into a stress-related illness.
A young woman travels to the Teddy Bear Motel after seeing it in her dreams. Between the allure of the motel’s portal into childhood and the realities of adulthood, she inevitably needs to make her choice.
In this quiet, naturalistic dramatic short, six-year old Sarah grapples with understanding mortality after the sudden death of her older brother, David. With the help of her family, she gradually learns how to process his passing and cope with her grief. Written, produced, and directed by Jackie Rivet-River, this short film for Encyclopaedia Britannica Films was awarded the Silver Hugo prize at the Chicago International Film Festival, as well as 12 additional awards internationally.
A young man's rapid descent into madness fueled by memories of a distant past of painful family experiences. Main character Michael Rose believes a normal relationship in the form of a blossoming new love interest may save him from his own demons, only to find that recurring nightmares and memories of the past are too strong for any one love to quiet.
In this raw true story of faith and redemption, college student, Riley, runs from her painful past of abuse and religious hypocrisy. However, God has other plans for Riley when an unforeseen circumstance compels her to confront the very source of her anguish – her estranged mother. As she unravels the layers of her painful childhood, Riley discovers the transformative power of forgiveness and the strength to break free from the chains of her past.
On a summer morning, Chichou, a six-year-old girl, invite us to discover what her daily life is made of. Perhaps at the cost of what childhood should normally look like.
A young man, severely addicted to drugs due to childhood abuse, has his life impacted even further after a meeting with his dealer goes horribly wrong.
Set in the pastoral mountains of northern Iran, eight-year-old Sahand has been rendered mute by the loss of his mother during the war. He is taken care of by his older sister as he struggles to process his trauma.
While hooking up at a party, two high schoolers unearth a dark secret leading to an unexpected catharsis.
A popular live streamer gets invited to a podcast where the questions begin to blur the line between reality and his traumatic past.
A troubled young adult seduces and blackmails unsuspecting strangers on a dating site.
Upon suddenly learning of her imminent death, Jacqueline von Kaenel begins to search for the key to her life. Unsparingly, she looks back and discovers how everything is connected; her youth in Franco’s Spain with her mother’s feudal past in eastern Prussia, her desire for music with the one for a dominant and powerful husband. In her ambition to be a perfect mother, she recognizes her fight for identity. But all of a sudden experiences from her childhood in a seemingly happy family crop up turning everything upside down.
OBAIDA, a short film by Matthew Cassel, explores a Palestinian child’s experience of Israeli military arrest. Each year, some 700 Palestinian children undergo military detention in a system where ill-treatment is widespread and institutionalized. For these young detainees, few rights are guaranteed, even on paper. After release, the experience of detention continues to shape and mark former child prisoners’ path forward.