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Coming of Age

Filmmakers love it, audiences live it. The rites-of-passage film enables us the chance to relive the past with wisdom, but not angst.

These films tracks multiple journeys, fruitful, painful and joyful; global stories with which to find your tribe, and remember.

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Beach RatsBeach Rats

Drama201798 minsDirector: Eliza Hittman

Gripping account of repressed sexual desire in a hyper-masculine environment, with British newcomer Harris Dickinson as a virulently macho Brooklyn teen.

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The FallingThe Falling

Drama2015102 minsDirector: Carol Morley

Florence Pugh's first film teams her with Maisie Williams as teenage friends at a school cursed by mystery sickness.

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Ghost WorldGhost World

Comedy2001107 minsDirector: Terry Zwigoff

Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch star as a pair of social outcasts struggling to make sense of the world around them, in this sublime love story based on the work of underground artist Daniel Clowes.

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Gregory's GirlGregory's Girl

Comedy198192 minsDirector: Bill Forsyth

The ultimate depiction of coming-of-age awkwardness, Bill Forsyth’s comedy about a teen who falls for the new female footballer on the school team.

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Casablanca BeatsCasablanca Beats

Drama2021102 minsDirector: Nabil Ayouch

Palme d'Or nominated film about a former rapper who takes a teaching job at a cultural centre in a working-class neighbourhood in Casablanca.

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Young Soul RebelsYoung Soul Rebels

Drama1991105 minsDirector: Isaac Julien

The Queen's Silver Jubilee beats to the sounds of Funkadelic, Sylvester and the O'Jays in Isaac Julien’s feature debut.

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The 400 BlowsThe 400 Blows

Drama1959100 minsDirector: François Truffaut

François Truffaut’s French New Wave landmark is one of the greatest movies about adolescence.

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Fish TankFish Tank

Drama2009118 minsDirector: Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold's BAFTA winner and coming-of-age story starring newcomer Katie Jarvis as disaffected teen Mia and Michael Fassbender in one of his earliest film roles.

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Girls LostGirls Lost

Fantasy2015106 minsDirector: Alexandra-Therese Keining

Teenage friends get the chance to be boys for a while in this supernatural, gender fluid fantasy from the director of Kiss Me.

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My Brother the DevilMy Brother the Devil

Drama2012107 minsDirector: Sally El Hosaini

Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.

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The WoundThe Wound

Drama201788 minsDirector: John Trengove

A traditional rite of passage ritual forms the backdrop for this tough and complex tale of closeted sexuality in South Africa.

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The SouvenirThe Souvenir

Drama2018120 minsDirector: Joanna Hogg

Sight and Sound's 2019 film of the year is the compelling, semi-autobiographical drama from acclaimed writer-director Joanna Hogg.

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PressurePressure

Drama1978121 minsDirector: Horace Ové

Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.

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Pauline at the BeachPauline at the Beach

Comedy198295 minsDirector: Eric Rohmer

Eric Rohmer's final collaboration with the great cinematographer Néstor Almendros follows a holidaying teenager as she begins to navigate the adult world.

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HelenHelen

Thriller200975 minsDirector: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor

An inventive and acclaimed British feature following the transformation of a teenager who agrees to portray her missing college friend in a highly detailed crime reconstruction.

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Summer with MonikaSummer with Monika

Drama195397 minsDirector: Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman’s scandalous tale of two lovers enjoying the freedom of youth.

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DogtoothDogtooth

Drama200993 minsDirector: Yorgos Lanthimos

Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships

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BridgendBridgend

Drama2016104 minsDirector: Jeppe Ronde

Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones) and Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country), star in this haunting mystery drama inspired by true events.

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Appropriate BehaviourAppropriate Behaviour

Comedy201586 minsDirector: Desiree Akhavan

Desiree Akhavan directs and stars in this witty, razor-sharp and fearless comedy following the sexual misadventures of a bisexual Brooklynite.

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Les Enfants TerriblesLes Enfants Terribles

Drama1949106 minsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Melville’s film of Jean Cocteau's controversial novel about a teenage brother and sister and their intense, closeted relationship.

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EvolutionEvolution

Drama201582 minsDirector: Lucile Hadzihalilovic

The long-awaited second feature from Lucile Hadžihalilović (Innocence) is a gorgeously surreal coming-of-age tale laced with bizarre body-horror.

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Postcards from LondonPostcards from London

Drama201889 minsDirector: Steve McLean

A stylish, sensuous film about a young man’s journey into an unusual form of escort work.

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ChildrenChildren

Drama197646 minsDirector: Terence Davies

The first part of Terence Davies' formidable Trilogy explores the effects of violence on a Liverpool schoolboy, told in a series of flashbacks.

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Me without YouMe without You

Drama2001103 minsDirector: Sandra Goldbacher

Anna Friel and Michelle Williams star as two troubled girls whose tumultuous friendship takes many twists and turns.