Rights From the Heart (Ages 12-14)

An animation film about a clarinet and a trumpet that meet, clash, compete, compromise and harmonize. Sound film without words.

On summer vacation a young teenager finds himself hanging out alone on the streets of his neighbourhood, all his friends having gone to the country with their parents. Near his home he meets a disturbing character, a drug pusher looking for clients, who introduces him to an artificial paradise. The teenager discovers a seductive and terrifying world that frequently draws him back to his neighbour.

Two young Africans from different social backgrounds want to defy tradition and be free to love each other. This Burkina Faso/Canada co-production is based on Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which particularly upholds the right to love freely, blind to convention and social class. An animated film without words for twelve to seventeen yers olds.

On the way to school, a boy is confronted by an enormous man whose hand grabs hold of his school bag and tosses it into the air. The hand pushes him towards a huge padlock, then forces him to enter through the keyhole: the schoolboy is imprisoned in a hazardous lock factory. Like the other children inside, he finds himself forced to operate a high-speed punch press. Struggling to follow the movements of the machine, he cuts off a finger. He tries to run away, but is recaptured.

Back at the factory he starts to cough up blood after inhaling iron particles that will prove lethal: the child dies on the job. Coldly, the hand picks up his body and drops it in the box the padlocks are shipped in, symbol of his murdered innocence. How can we live with forced child labour? This India/Canada co-production is inspired by Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the child, which particularly upholds the child's right to be protected from economic exploitation. An animated film without words for 12- to 17-year olds.

A young girl is taken away to a large city by train, but she knows nothing about the man her parents entrust her to. During the journey she recalls good times she spent with her family at a village fair, where she had a pretty flower tattooed on her hand. On their arrival, the child is dazzled by the lights of the city. She trustingly follows this stranger, who is leading her to a brothel. When she sees money passing from the hands of the madam to the pimp, she remembers that her father took a large sum of money from this same stranger. She realizes with horror that she has been sold.

A prisoner in the brothel, the young girl is dressed up in beautiful clothes before being shut in a filthy room. A wealthy customer appears. Through the blinds, she sees him hand a wad of bills to the madam. The man enters her room, drooling in his excitement. The child screams for help with all her might, but her cries mingle with the whistling of the train as it flies into the night... An animated film without words for 12- to 17-year olds.

The story starts with the birth of a baby, who starts crying as soon as he sees his father 'in disguise.' The infant is already expressing his desire for authenticity. By the age of three, he instinctively rejects conventions. He is taken to a psychiatrist, who finds him perfectly normal. When he starts school, he is offered another mask. Once again, he rejects it, and once again, he is led off to the psychiatrist. As a teenager he discovers his father's disguises and fills them with helium. As an adult, his creative attitude towards his work arouses the envy of his colleagues. At one of his last visits to the psychiatrist, he sees a young woman who seems to be experiencing the same problems he is. It's love at first sight. From their union is born a child who starts to cry as soon as he sees his father wearing a motorcycle helmet. The father quickly removes his 'mask...' This Cuba/Canada co-production is based on Article 14 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which particularly upholds the child's right to refuse the hypocrisy of a society that tries to make us hide our real selves behind masks. An animated film without words for twelve to seventeen year olds.