CineYouth Open Captions

We follow Colin Richey as he tries to put on his second-ever DIY concert, while he and the various bands contend with a cantankerous establishment owner.

An unemployed young woman accepts a job posing as a mourner at strangers’ funerals to fund her father’s cancer care, and in doing so, unexpectedly experiences the return of genuine compassion from a fellow mourner.

“It’s more than just clothes.” In this spoken word film, fashion becomes the story, exploring the identities and memories woven into every thread.

After trying everything in his power to make a new friend at the end of the summer, the perfect opportunity arises for this ghost just before the first day of school.

Sprinkled throughout Chicago are dozens of cemeteries, but buried in their histories is a legacy of racial discrimination. To The Grave explores how Chicago cemeteries came to deny Black and Japanese people burial, and the groups that organized to honor and secure proper burials.

Set to music from “The Nutcracker,” the film follows a lonely man who creates a device to listen in on the lovey-dovey conversations of a happy couple as they navigate through a day together in the city.

Over the course of a year, this film follows three central interviews that capture the many emotional layers of the ICE protest movement—the joyful and hopeful moments, the anger and resistance, and the grief and frustration. Together, these voices reveal the different faces of protest, united by a single purpose: to defend and uphold human dignity.

After a fight, a boy journals through weeks of distance from his boyfriend—grappling with memory, loneliness, and shifting emotions—until quiet reflections lead him to unexpected epiphanies in the most unlikely place.

From Peru to the United States, this experimental documentary tells a family’s diasporic history through television channels. A mother and brother are interviewed in Ohio, a grandfather’s last recorded song plays out from Peru, while a solo dancer recalls a familiar yet different routine

When a freak accident upends his world, an Indian immigrant grapples with faith and the American dream, finding God in his fading art and the vibrant landscapes of his imagination.

Maxed out, burnt out, and sex-starved, Amber falls under the spell of a glamorous self-help guru. Repression evolves into possession as Amber molts into a new ego: a worksona.

Gemma is a rebellious super-senior who steals shoes from her one-night stands—her own way of reclaiming control. One day, she discovers a pair of red flats she doesn’t remember taking and sets off through her small town to uncover the truth. What begins as a comedic quest turns into a tender reckoning, forcing her to confront what she’s been running from at home.

Close friends, Dontae and Aubrey, work diligently on their homework while sharing a pack of gummy worms. When they both reach for the last piece, their competitive natures clash and a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors ensues

In a near-future society where symmetry and perfectionism are strictly enforced, Hannah is forced to wear a mask that covers half her face, a cosmetic technology that “fixes” her “deformity.” With growing insecurity, she starts hallucinating that objects around her house are no longer “perfect” and becomes more consumed and obsessed by societal pressure.

After every failed flirtation at a Chicago gay bar, anxious 22-year-old Max puts on various faces, chasing a “better” version of himself that someone might love.

An animated documentary traveling through the memories of a childhood toy, the watch of a loved one, and a bottle of hot sauce from a lifetime ago.