Paris Is Burning (1990), Freedom Writers (2007), Eighth Grade (2018), Eternity: The Movie (2014), Speak (2004), Trantasia (2006), Pump Up the Volume (1990), Rize (2005) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Self-expression movies.
Storyline: This is a documentary of 'drag nights' among New York's underclass. Queens are interviewed and observed preparing for and competing in many 'balls'. The people, the clothes, and the whole environment are outlandish.—Robbie Smith <robsmith@u.washington.edu>
Plot Keywords: documentary, lgbtq+, new york, 1980s, african american, identity, marginalized communities ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: It's 1994 in Long Beach, California. Idealistic Erin Gruwell is just starting her first teaching job, that as freshman and sophomore English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School, which, two years earlier, implemented a voluntary integration program. For many of the existing teachers, the integration has ruined the school, whose previously stellar academic standing has been replaced with many students who will be lucky to graduate or even be literate. Despite choosing the school on purpose because of its integration program, Erin is unprepared for the nature of her classroom, whose students live by generations of strict moral codes of protecting their own at all cost. Many are in gangs and almost all know somebody that has been killed by gang violence. The Latinos hate the Cambodians who hate the blacks and so on. The only person the students hate more is Ms. Gruwell. It isn't until Erin holds an unsanctioned discussion about a recent drive-by shooting death that she fully begins to ...
Plot Keywords: education, race, social issues, teacher, students, inner city, writing ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In his feature film directorial debut, comedian Bo Burnham deftly encapsulates the awkwardness, angst, self-loathing and reinvention that a teenage girl goes through on the cusp of high school. Given that the 27-year-old stand-up comic achieved fame as a teenager himself through YouTube by riffing on his insecurities, he is uniquely capable as the film's writer and director to tell the story of Kayla, an anxious girl navigating the final days of her eighth grade year, despite creating a protagonist w female instead of male. Like Burnham did more than a decade ago, 13-year-old Kayla turns to YouTube to express herself, where she makes advice blogs in which she pretends to have it all together. In reality, Kayla is sullen and silent around her single father and her peers at school, carrying out most of her interactions with her classmates on Instagram and Twitter. Her YouTube videos are a clever narrative tool that provide insight into her inner hopes and dreams, much like an ...
Plot Keywords: coming of age, teenager, social media, self-identity, father-daughter relationship, school life, psychological pressure ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Regrettable fashion, synthesized riffs, and power ballads dominate the 1985 music scene. That's when Todd Lucas, a young and talented musician, moves to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big. Searching for someone to share his passion for smooth R&B music, Todd meets up with BJ Fairchild, a cocky loner from The Valley who is convinced his life is more glamorous than it is. The two musicians have big dreams but little future until their best friend, Gina Marie, gets them the break of a lifetime. Fate brings them together, love tears them apart, and their songs of heartbreak and loss redefine their genre. Todd and BJ epitomize the awkwardness of an era while becoming R&B's most mediocre duo - Eternity.—Sidecar Productions
Plot Keywords: musical, comedy, song and dance, independent film, lgbtq+, romance, satire ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melinda Sordino is forced into the worst year of her life. Her best friend, Rachel Bruin, has turned against her with all other of Melinda's fellow students looking away; not daring to take a single glance at Melinda. All because of one stupid end-of-summer party.
Plot Keywords: coming of age, bullying, psychological trauma, silence, sexual assault, recovery, friendship ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In 2004, Las Vegas promoters planning a review starring Jahna Steele invite trans women to participate in "The World's Most Beautiful Transsexual Pageant," a two-day contest from which eight women would be offered jobs in the review. About 20 women arrive for all-night rehearsals and the pageant itself: swimsuit, evening gown, and talent competition, the selection of eight finalists and three prize winners. We follow the women backstage and get in-depth profiles of six: two from Chicago and one each from LA, San Francisco, San Antonio, and Columbia, South Carolina. We meet their families, and we learn about their lives and their journeys of self-discovery and acceptance.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Plot Keywords: documentary, beauty pageant, lgbtq+, performance art, culture, fashion, music ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Mark is an intelligent but shy teenager who has just moved to Arizona from the East Coast. His parents give him a short-wave radio so he can talk to his pals, but instead he sets up shop as pirate deejay Hard Harry, who becomes a hero to his peers while inspiring the wrath of the local high school principal. When one of Harry's listeners commits suicide, inspired chaos breaks out at the school and the authorities are called in to put a stop to Harry's broadcasts.
Plot Keywords: teen, rebellion, loneliness, high school life, secret identity, social issues, counterculture ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Reveals a groundbreaking dance phenomenon that's exploding on the streets of South Central, Los Angeles. Taking advantage of unprecedented access, this documentary film bring to first light a revolutionary form of artistic expression borne from oppression. The aggressive and visually stunning dance modernizes moves indigenous to African tribal rituals and features mind-blowing, athletic movement sped up to impossible speeds. We meet Tommy Johnson (Tommy the Clown), who first created the style as a response to the 1992 Rodney King riots and named it Clowning, as well as the kids who developed the movement into what they now call Krumping. The kids use dance as an alternative to gangs and hustling: they form their own troupe and paint their faces like warriors, meeting to outperform rival gangs of dancers or just to hone their skills. For the dancers, Krumping becomes a way of life--and, because it's authentic expression (in complete opposition to the bling-bling hip-hop culture), the dance becomes a vital part of who they are.—Sujit R. Varma
Plot Keywords: documentary, dance, los angeles, street dance, performance, youth culture, music ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Scott Hastings is a champion caliber ballroom dancer, but much to the chagrin of the Australian ballroom dance community, Scott believes in dancing "his own steps". Fran is a beginning dancer and a bit of an ugly duckly who has the audacity to ask to be Scott's partner after his unorthodox style causes his regular partner to dance out of his life. Together, these two misfits try to win the Australian Pan Pacific Championships and show the Ballroom Confederation that they are wrong when they say, "there are no new steps!"
Plot Keywords: dance, romance, comedy, australian film, competition, rebellion, love ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: A homage to Bruce Weber's Favourite things, these being mixing film, photography and classic movies. With portraits of a lesbian jazz singer and a 16 year old wrestler.
Plot Keywords: documentary, photography, fashion, identity, art, portrait, new york ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Camille's life as a lonely suburban teenager changes dramatically when she befriends a group of girl skateboarders. As she journeys deeper into this raw New York City subculture, she begins to understand the true meaning of friendship as well as her inner self.Camille's life as a lonely suburban teenager changes dramatically when she befriends a group of girl skateboarders. As she journeys deeper into this raw New York City subculture, she begins to understand the true meaning of friendship as well as her inner self.
Plot Keywords: coming of age, female friendship, rebellion, street life, indie film, based on true story, female director ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: In the vein of CLUELESS and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, FREAK SHOW tells the moving, heartwarming, and hilarious story of Billy Bloom, a boldly confident, wildly eccentric teenager, who faces intolerance and persecution at his ultra conservative high school, and decides to fight back on behalf of all the misunderstood freaks of the world by running for the title of homecoming queen.
Plot Keywords: coming of age, lgbtq+, high school life, bullying, social prejudice, family conflict, friendship ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: British artist and living legend Andrew Logan, loved the world over by celebrities and misfits alike, takes us under his glittering wing and inside his outrageous, anarchic and spectacular costume pageant: the Alternative Miss World Show. As the Shows master of ceremonies and ringmaster, Logan is the high priest of an esteemed congregation. He describes the Show as his most important artwork; a fabulous living sculpture that spans forty years of arts and culture. Using live observational camera, archive and exuberant animation, this documentary charts the mounting of the 2009 Show, interwoven with its history, the rise, fall and rediscovery, of both the event and the artist at its center.—Anonymous
Plot Keywords: documentary, british, art, fashion, performance, creativity, culture ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Believing the quote that you are born alone, die alone and everything else is an illusion, George doesn't see the point of life, school, or homework. Then he meets Sally and he now has a reason to go to school and make friends, even if he's not ready to admit to himself or to her that he likes her. The school's principal and art teacher introduce him to an alumni, and successful artist, Dustin, who can help guide George along life's path, but other distractions start surfacing, and George might not even be able to graduate from high school.
Plot Keywords: youth, coming of age, romance, rebellion, confusion, new york, indie film ...
Movie Details Click Here !Storyline: Classic tale of teenage rebellion and repression features a delightful combination of dance choreography and realistic and touching performances. When teenager Ren McCormack and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small Midwestern town, he's in for a real case of culture shock. Though he tries hard to fit in, the streetwise Ren can't quite believe he's living in a place where rock music and dancing are illegal. However, there is one small pleasure: Ariel Moore, a troubled but lovely blonde with a jealous boyfriend. And a Bible-thumping minister, who is responsible for keeping the town dance-free. Ren and his classmates want to do away with this ordinance, especially since the senior prom is around the corner, but only Ren has the courage to initiate a battle to abolish the outmoded ban and revitalize the spirit of the repressed townspeople. Fast-paced drama is filled with such now-famous hit songs as the title track and "Let's Hear It for the Boy".
Plot Keywords: musical, dance, youth, rebellion, small town life, liberation, rock music ...
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