On what levels do we become discomfited by what we witness?

Each of these films uses the vantage point of teenage girls from across the globe to explore universal struggles shaped and stirred by their specific environments. Each film focuses on the all-too-familiar pressures facing young people; difficult and strained relationships with parents, fear and curiosity about sex, material concerns, and pressures to conform to societal norms.

These short films’ sensibilities are moving and well-crafted portrayals of what it’s like to be that age, navigating that slippery slope between the perspective of the characters and the audience’s fascination with the challenges others must face.

Here is a brief synopsis of some of the showcased films:

American Minor
Director: Charlie White [USA]
This short film is a meditation on the popular image of the American teen girl, focusing on a fourteen-year-old, upper-middle-class blonde girl whose world is defined through products, objects, and perpetual consumption. The film observes a single, protracted morning in the life of a picture-perfect American youth lost in the dehumanizing space that wealth, isolation, and fear can provide. By watching this American teen perform basic acts, from eating cereal, to watching television, to combing her hair, the film aims to reveal the complicated relationship between personal pleasure and politics, youth and sexuality, and class and suppression.


Bait
Director Michal Vinik [Israel]
On their way to the seashore to fish on a sweltering summer afternoon, edgy tomboy Nitzan and her bubbly, attractive sister hitch a ride with a young Filipino guest worker; sexual tensions boil to unexpected results. Talented newcomer Michal Vinik directs an honest portrayal of teenage sexuality in this sweet and saucy slice-of-life story. Bait was screened at the Sundance Film Festival 2009 in competition, won a special mention award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and has been screened at film festivals around the world.


Little Canyon
Director: Olivia Silver [USA]
A teenager’s dad is moving the family cross-country, promising a California paradise and packing half the household into a dented station wagon. All that's missing is Mom. As they travel through forest, plains and desert, stopping at fast food joints, shoddy motels, and a poor substitute for the Grand Canyon, Greta gradually realizes that her family is falling apart.

Directors’ Biographies
Charlie White is a photographer and filmmaker whose work has been exhibited internationally since 1999. White holds the position of Associate Professor, and is the Director of the MFA program at the University of Southern California’s Roski School of Fine Arts. White was a fellow at the Yale Norfolk Summer Program in 1994, received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, in 1995, and his MFA in 1998 from Art Center College of Design. White’s first film, American Minor, 2008, was selected to screen at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. White’s work has been discussed and reviewed in periodicals and journals such as The New York Times, Artforum, Frieze, Flash Art, Modern Painters, The New Yorker, Wired, lacanian ink, and EXIT Image and Culture.

Michal Vinik graduated the Film and Television Department at Tel-Aviv University as a scriptwriter, worked as a screenwriter for local television and is now majoring as a director in the MFA program. In addition, she wrote 2 full length scripts for The Israeli film fund, one as a co-writer; teaching scriptwriting at Tel Aviv University, “Minshar” school for the arts and Beit Berl Academic College; and working on her graduation film which was shot a month ago and will be released in a few months.

Olivia Silver grew up in Connecticut and Southern California and is a recent graduate of the UCLA MFA Directing program. After earning a B.A. in English from Williams College, she worked in book publishing and foreign policy before turning to filmmaking. Her UCLA thesis film "Little Canyon" has screened at Sundance, Edinburgh, Denver, Nantucket, and other film festivals, as well as at the L.A. County Museum of Art and the UCLA Director's Spotlight. Olivia is currently developing a feature version of Little Canyon which was selected for the 2009 Film Independent Director's Lab and the 2009 Sundance Creative Producing Initiative.