Film Library

Five Swazi orphaned children turn their past trauma into creative fuel for an original collective fairytale, in which they send a young girl on  a dangerous quest.

Andy Kwiatowski, 18, is a recent graduate of Rampart High School in Colorado Springs. Andy came to YDA to make a documentary about growing up with an autistic disorder and turned the camera on himself, his parents and sister in telling a deeply personal account. His film LONELY HIGHWAY, is an intimate portrayal of family love and support as they come to terms with the unique challenges of and resilience necessary to being on the autistic spectrum. Prior to joining YDA, Andy took several film and media classes in school and produced a comic strip, stop motion video and several small films.

Barreling along freeways from behind the wheel of their big rigs, three women truck drivers share their humor, insight and experience of driving 18-wheelers for a living. This film enriches and challenges every preconceived notion of truck driving while seeking to understand what is gained and lost as a woman, a mother, and a trucker on the open road.

In the wake of apartheid’s bloody past, South Africa has chosen a unique solution-the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Four diverse stories are told in this film. Nominated for Best Feature Length Documentary, 2001 Academy Awards.

An intimate, joyful celebration of family, love, creativity, and music, played out against the backdrop of more than half a century of strife amongst the world’s superpowers.

Once upon a time, long before Disney and other animation giants, Lotte Reiniger ignited the screen with shadows, light, and a pair of magical scissors.

An unexpected pregnancy compels an Indian immigrant mother to help her adopted twin daughters reconnect with their White birth mother and estranged Native American father, exposing raw class divides while transforming their understanding of identity and belonging.

This film tells the poignant story of four siblings whose father was sentenced to die for the murder of their mother in 1990, and Meg Eggleston, who became their father’s friend and spiritual advisor. This film is a powerful examination not only of the healing process, but also of the role capital punishment plays in serving justice.

Josh’s parents emigrated from China to Colorado in order to have a second child (in response to China’s one-child policy). Josh was raised navigating two cultures: his traditional Chinese background and an American way of life, often observing the differences and dissonances between the two. In his film LOVE ME, Josh candidly questions the ways in which he was raised, including intense pressures to succeed. In doing so, he poses questions about how young people can find self love and true passions while negotiating societal expectations.

In 1940 Berlin, Lilly Wurst, Aryan hausfrau who has a picture of the Fuhrer on the wall along side a medal for German motherhood, falls in love with a vivacious female member of the Jewish underground. Archival footage, love letters, and photos are fantastic, but nothing equals the sight of 82-year-old Lilly talking about the one true love of her life.

Lucy is a story about a girl and her dog. The short is an illustrated love letter, written and shot to memorialize her pups memory.