Don’t call it a skater film. And definitely don’t dismiss it for being a documentary. Only the Young is simply an extraordinary real-life teen movie, one I’ve previously compared favorably to the fiction works of John Hughes and Cameron Crowe. It’s like Pretty in Pink and Say Anything mashed together but true and even more honest and heartwarming and beautifully shot. The film follows best friends Garrison and Kevin, who are skateboarders and evangelical Christians and punk fans and, most importantly, just teenage boys. We also meet Skye, a girl who Garrison dates then breaks up but stays close friends with. She’s dealing with looming foreclosure on her home, while the guys explore abandoned houses and mini-golf courses, all of this making for a timely story of youth amidst the depressing economic landscape of America in recent years. But it’s also a timely story that anyone who is or once was a kid can genuinely relate to. Only the Young, which opens in New York City this Friday, is the debut feature of Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims, whose own proximity to their teenage years (they were in their early twenties while filming) benefited their film’s ability to capture such a candid, casual record of a trio at certain uncontrollable crossroads of life. It’s a sweet film, one I fell in love with and will name as one of the best of 2012, and not just for documentary. I chatted with the two directors earlier this week about the making

In Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worral‘s stirring Call Me Kuchu, we meet soft-spoken activist David Kato, a former teacher fighting for something very dear to his heart – the repeal of Uganda’s stunningly homophobic laws and the blocking of their “Anti-Homosexuality Bill,” which proposed no less than death for HIV-positive gay men, and prison for anyone who fails to turn in a known homosexual. While the simplest of Google searches for information on the film will likely turn up news on some of its most heartbreaking narrative twists and turns, the film is better experienced fresh. However, this trailer for Call Me Kuchu effectively telegraphs the aims and spirit of the film without spoiling some of its more wrenching emotional moments. Check out the film’s trailer after the break, along with screening information for the film, which will be having its U.S. Premiere at LAFF this week.