Thumbsucker - Behind the Scenes

Only Me, Me Alone

Longing for acceptance, a neurodivergent boy taunts the boundaries of his best friend: his brother.

Thumbsucker

Justin Cobb, a teenager in suburban Oregon, copes with his thumb-sucking problem, romance, and his diagnosis with ADHD and subsequent experience using Ritalin.

All Day Happy Dance

A single mom has one of her identical twin boys assessed and after being diagnosed with ADHD, he shares his medication, leading to adventures and consequences.

Trying

Meg, a millennial painter with ADHD, navigates her life on the way to a job interview. What starts as a simple task turns into a race against the clock as she encounters society’s stigmas, unlikely allies, and challenges from her past.

Non Grata

Julia and her son Dani with ADHD attend a birthday party to which they haven’t been invited. Parents seem reluctant to let them in but they end up letting them pass. The party goes on well until an aggression between the kids makes the adults to blame Dani and Julia loses her temper for defending him.

Hyper

Jamie is a woman in her 30s who has recently been diagnosed with ADHD. The diagnosis doesn't come as a surprise, in fact it all now makes sense. She's constantly walking on eggshells, always scared of saying the wrong thing. Jamie and Allie are falling in love. Always late, messy and not listening, will Allie lose interest in Jamie?

plants with spikes or thorns

An experimental short film about sensory seeking behaviour in childhood. Filmed on VHS.

Me & My Shadow

After turning in his fourth late assignment, Sam is sent to his university's counsellor, Dr Miller. Struggling to focus and sit still, Sam reveals how his love for music and all things practical was neglected by his parents, who eventually pushed him into theoretical subjects he can't excel in. When the counsellor suspects he has ADHD, Sam reveals that he sometimes feels all his annoying impulses could be best described as an irritating "shadow"; a loud, brightly-dressed version of himself who never leaves him alone. She then asks Sam to recount the day when the "Shadow" led him through London, prioritising trivial tasks over his assignment, ultimately leading him to not hand it in on time.

coping.

Three individuals describe their unique ways of coping with everyday stress, anxiety, and mental health. A narrative short film presented as documentary-style interviews, exploring the honest, messy reality of coping mechanisms and neurodivergent life.

Freshman's Ballad

The story of a lonely, emotional and almost psychotic freshman’s in his first year of High School.

The Star of Therapy

When Kendra is admitted into group therapy, she becomes overly competitive about completing her weekly goals.

The Selfish Giant

A hyperactive boy and his best friend, a slow-witted youth with an affinity for horses, start collecting scrap metal for a shady dealer.

The Specials

For twenty years, Bruno and Malik have lived in a different world—the world of autistic children and teens. In charge of two separate nonprofit organizations (The Hatch & The Shelter), they train young people from underprivileged areas to be caregivers for extreme cases that have been refused by all other institutions. It’s an exceptional partnership, outside of traditional settings, for some quite extraordinary characters.

The Worst Ones

The story centres on a group of teenagers street cast in their neighbourhood and selected to play in a feature film during the summer. The film tells the story of this film shoot and of the connections that will be formed during it.

Remedial

As Will struggles to cope with the tragic loss of his father, he and his mother resolve to build a new life by relocating to Houston, Texas. At his new school, Will’s social and learning difficulties lead to a false diagnosis of his condition. Inspired by real events, this film observes one of the loneliest disorders that children recovering from life-altering traumas face.

What Don't You Understand?

ADHD is a very complicated thing, and it is very hard to explain, especially to those without it. This film takes you through common experiences that come with the disorder.

Blue & White

A man suffering with ADHD struggles to get through his daily routine.

To Dye For: The Documentary

After discovering their child's life-altering sensitivity to synthetic dyes, parents and first-time filmmakers set out to uncover the impacts of these additives. They journey to meet with the world's leading synthetic dye experts, conducting in-person interviews with scientists, researchers, and impacted families. This exploration reveals a series of shocking stories and surprising discoveries.

Sick Girls

In recent years, the number of diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder has skyrocketed. What are the reasons? Does a society geared towards efficiency use the label ADHS to weed out anyone who does not fit its frames? What are the consequences of the fact that medication treatment has become almost ubiquitous? Could Ritalin and the like have become the doping of the performance society?

Starving in Suburbia

When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?

Elis

The film tells the story of the energetic and pulsating singer Elis Regina since her arrival in Rio de Janeiro at age 19 until her tragic and early death. Despite all the difficulties, success comes fulminant and the life of Elis Regina gained national and international recognition, becoming undoubtedly considered today the greatest Brazilian singer of all time.

Strange Weather

Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

Hungry Hearts

The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

TalhotBlond

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

Girl in the Box

The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

Bastard Out of Carolina

A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.

The Girl in the Book

The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

The Young One

A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

The Dreamseller

A disillusioned psychologist tries to commit suicide until he strikes up a friendship with an unlikely saviour who teaches him a new way of living.

Holy Lands

When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.

Hands of Stone

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

Hellion

When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.

Gracie

A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.

The Other End

Diogo (17) has a little quirk: he likes to call his mother's female therapy patients and masturbate while listening to them on the phone. One of these patients is Angela (43), a woman who was just left by her husband When Diogo calls Angela, she thinks it's her husband calling. She starts having a relationship with the silence on the other end of the line. But when she finds out it's Diogo, she's disgusted. She's furious. But, most of all, she's attracted to this person who showed so much interest in her. The only person who called her every day. Diogo helps Angela see that she can have a new beginning and she shows him his way to independence. But they have to face a number of obstacles: There's the age difference, Diogo's mother, and, especially, his own path to adulthood.

Salomé

After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.

Eleanor the Great

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

Rogue Agent

Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.

Waiting for Anya

During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.

Inseparable

When young dad, Joe, discovers he's dying, drifter Charlie is given a unique opportunity to turn his life around. A story of family, identity and starting again.