High School is back! The now traditional programme, which shows the problems of teenagers as they go through secondary school, will be at Cinema Jove once again this year. This year’s edition moves to the Plaza de Viriato, offering open-air screenings in a space backed by the Turia brand.

The program covers a wide variety of genres that, together, offer an intimate view that resonates both with the generations that have left school behind and with those who are in that transitional process.

In High School: Fourth Grade we will see well-known works such as “Dead Poets Society” is presented, a film that became a sociological phenomenon, where Robin Williams, an Oscar winner, brings to life a teacher who encourages his students to explore poetry and fully enjoy life. Among the students stands out a young Ethan Hawke.

In “Halls of anger” (Paul Bogart, 1970), there is also a Hollywood star, Jeff Bridges, in one of his first roles. The film offers a variant of youth violence cinema, where an African-American teacher and his white students face racial tensions in a disadvantaged school.

Conflict is also the focus of “The Teachers’ Lounge” (Ilker Çatak, 2023), the German candidate for the latest Oscar Awards. In this drama, Leonie Benesch plays an idealistic teacher who leads the investigation of a series of robberies at the school where she teaches.

Exploring first loves, the cycle addresses the teenage experience with films like “The Edge of Seventeen” (Kelly Fremon Craig, 2016), where Hailee Steinfeld finds support from her teacher, played by Woody Harrelson, when her relationship with her best friend complicates as she starts dating her brother.

In “An Education” (Lone Scherfig, 2009), Carey Mulligan’s life is disrupted when, at 16, she meets a much older man while preparing to enter Oxford University. The film, set in the effervescence of Swinging London in the sixties, adapts Lynn Barber’s autobiographical book.

“The Virgin Suicides” (Sofia Coppola, 1999) presents a tragic story set in the seventies, where a group of boys becomes obsessed with five overprotected sisters after one of them attempts suicide.

“Yo, él y Raquel” (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, 2015) tells the story of a student who, along with a friend, creates their own versions of classic films. When his mother forces him to reconnect with a leukemia-stricken friend, they decide to dedicate a movie to her. Olivia Cooke stars in this romantic dramedy.

The cycle also includes black comedies like “Welcome to the Dollhouse” (Todd Solondz, 1995), which addresses the feeling of being a misfit both at school and at home, and “Election” (Alexander Payne, 1999), which satirizes political ethics through a campaign for the presidency of a student council, pitting a teacher against an ambitious student.