Necessary Years of Learning

On n'est pas des racailles

November 2025 •French

Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare

December 2023 •English

Out-of-control teens across America were sent to a therapy camp in the harsh Utah desert. The conditions were brutal, but the staff were even worse.

Kids in Jail

Invalid date •English

With unprecedented access, this documentary paints an intimate, complex portrait of kids in jail. The film raises difficult yet vital questions about at-risk youth and young offenders, and asks: Should we be doing more to help them?

La banlieue, c’est le paradis

February 2025 •French

In the 1960s, the suburbs were meant to be modern havens for newcomers from rural France, Portugal, Spain, North Africa, and Africa, helping rebuild post-war France. Large housing complexes symbolized this ideal, offering comfort, heating, and electricity. But by the 1980s, disillusionment set in as economic crisis, unemployment, poverty, crime, racism, and police violence took hold. Mohamed Bouhafsi tells the story of a dream that didn’t last.

Boys Will Be Men

January 1980 •English

This film takes a candid, inside look at the world of juvenile delinquency. We are shown the tough existence on the streets of Montreal, but it could be any city in North America. Some boys as young as ten years of age talk about their lives of crime, the things that are important to them, and the hopes they hold for the future.

Girl's Reform School

February 1956 •Japanese

The day to day life in an establishment for delinquent teenage girls.

Yolngu Boy

March 2001 •English

After committing a crime for which he is likely to be jailed, a Yolngu teenager convinces two of his childhood friends to join him on a journey from North East Arnhem Land to Darwin to seek help from a tribal leader.

Flora and Son

September 2023 •English

Single mom Flora is at a loss about what to do with her rebellious teenage son, Max. Her efforts to keep him out of trouble lead to a beat-up acoustic guitar, a washed-up LA musician, and harmony for this frayed Dublin family.

Gridiron Gang

September 2006 •English

Under the leadership of their counselor, teenagers at a juvenile detention center gain self-esteem by playing football together. Based on a true story.

Kids

July 1995 •English

A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.

Anatomy of a Psycho

June 1961 •English

The crazed brother of a condemned killer sent to the gas chamber swears vengeance on those he holds responsible for his brother's execution.

Blue Spring

September 2001 •Japanese

Soon after being named the new leader of his high school's gang system, Kujo grows bored with the violence and hatred that surround him. He wants desperately to abandon his post… but his once-enviable position of power has a strange way of making him feel powerless.

Social Misfits

June 2001 •English

A group of teenagers are forced to work together while being stuck in Camp Resurrection for 48 hours.

Hovering Blade

May 2024 •Chinese

Following the brutal rape and murder of his teenage daughter, a single father seeks revenge against the responsible youths. His pursuit for justice becomes a deadly cat-and-mouse game with both the perpetrators and the police.

Last Resort

December 1996 •English

Nine young men and women, deemed unmanageable by both anguished parents and a society grown weary of drug users, gang members and thieves, are given one last chance to save their lives. Some make it, some don't.

Delinquent Daughters

July 1944 •English

A town is shocked when a high school girl commits suicide. A reporter and a cop team up to investigate and find out exactly what is going on among the youth of the town.

Gambling with Souls

September 1936 •English

Young girls are cheated into rigged gambling games and then forced into prostitution to pay off their debts.

Teen-Age Crime Wave

November 1955 •English

A delinquent girl involves an innocent friend in an armed robbery followed by a jail-break and hostage-taking with her equally delinquent boyfriend.

To Sir, with Love II

April 1996 •English

After thirty years teaching in London, Mark Thackeray retires and returns to Chicago. There, however, the challenge of teaching kids in an inner city school proves to be too much to resist.

Les Sagards

January 2000 •French

Mehdi, 17, is sentenced to perform hours of community service for a minor offense. He arrives in Auvergne where he must serve his sentence - six weeks with a taciturn lumberjack, Abel Vagnier, owner of a sawmill which he operates alone with Tonton, a former wrestler. Abel, overwhelmed, accepts the placement of Mehdi, who discovers work, the countryside and life the hard way, the shock is harsh. He finds himself immersed in a universe where his bearings no longer apply. Communication, initially difficult, is slowly established despite everyone's failings...