The Up Series are documentaries that revisit a group of children from different countries every seven years. In 2007, in post-apartheid South Africa, filmmaker Angus Gibson re-visits 11 young people of various races and backgrounds as they turn 21. The result is an insightful look at the lives of these young people who, faced with varying economic and social realities, must deal with issues such as unemployment, crime, race relations, education and the AIDS epidemic, which has killed three of the original 14 children.

Los herederos is a portrait of the young children in the Mexican countryside who begin to work at an early age. The film focuses on their daily struggle for survival and their activities in farming, sculpting and painting “alebrijes,” shepherding, making bricks, weaving, looking after their siblings, collecting water, harvesting tomato, chili, maize, and laboring in a myriad of other activities. They have inherited tools and techniques from their ancestors, but they have also inherited their day-to-day hardship because, as generations pass, child workers seem to remain captive in a cycle of inherited poverty.

In a remote region of northern Zambia, in Samfya district, a group of women are given a unique opportunity to make a film as a way to speak out about their lives. Through a filmmaking training program for girls and young women created by the Campaign for Female Education, they are guided by Abibata Mahama and Dominique Chadwick, experienced participatory filmmakers.  Filmmakers David Eberts and Helen Cotton, follow the women as they create a film that recounts the real-life experiences of Penelop, an 18-year-old orphan struggling to provide for herself and her siblings in the wake of her parents’ deaths.  In the process of making the film, the women of Samfya challenge age-old social injustices within their community and encourage serious change. What begins as a workshop about filmmaking, and a quest to tell Penelop’s story, becomes a journey in empowerment.   

The story of 14-year-old Basilio Vargas and his 12-year-old brother Bernardino, who work in the ancient Cerro Rico silver mines of Bolivia. It is believed that over eight million workers have perished in the mines since the 16th century.  Raised without a father and living in extreme poverty with their mother and six-year-old sister on the slopes of the mine, the boys assume many adult responsibilities. It takes two months’ work just to afford the clothing and supplies vital to their education. Without an education, the brothers have no chance to escape their destiny in the silver mines.   

The Day My God Died is a feature-length documentary that presents the stories of young girls whose lives have been shattered by the child sex trade. They describe the day they were abducted from their village and sold into sexual servitude as, “The Day My God Died.”

For the first time in Israel, a group of Arab and Jewish parents decide to establish a bi-national, bi-lingual grade school in the Wadi Ara village. BRIDGE OVER THE WADI follows the school's first year and the fragile attempts to create an environment of co-existence against the backdrop of a complicated reality.

In an experimental program to reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency, the city of Baltimore sent a group of 12-year-olds deemed "at risk" to a boarding school in Kenya, affording the boys the rare opportunity to turn their troubled lives around. Focusing on four of the youths, this compelling documentary follows the students as they struggle to overcome the obstacles of their past in their hopeful bid for a shot at a brighter future.

Jamaica has the highest murder rate in the World.  This film explores the plight of the kids who have to grow up doing their homework by flashlight under their beds, for fear of stray bullets coming through the walls of their homes.

Children of the Stars focuses on the Feng Jia Wei family. Their five year old boy is autistic. He cannot speak and is often very violent. He has been rejected from all their local schools and does not seem to even recognise his parents. As a family, they frequently receive verbal abuse from people who do not understand their son's behaviour. The career of both parents has also been destroyed because their son requires constant care and attention. The family feel they have nowhere else to turn.

Idris is one of thousands of children who earn their living on the busy streets of Dhaka. Although he had to work from an early age to support his ailing father, he tries to hold onto his dream of an education, even while working long hours as an assistant on a public transportation vehicle. When circumstances force him to drop out of school, his desire for an education is replaced by new dreams of urban success. Eventually, the harsh realities of city life begin to close in on Idris, forcing him to reconsider his goals as he enters adulthood. The film follows the path of Idris' life over a period of six years, documenting the complexities of balance and survival in a unique and personal story of 'childhood' experience. 

The Villa is a children’s home in Berlin. Lydia, Dave, Maria, Dennis, Cindy, Dominik, Jule, Axel, Steven and Nico live here together. The all have different reasons for not living with their parents anymore. In animated cartoon scenes, the film looks back at the events that brought them here. The children have not only their new lives into their hands, but also film each other. 

Five working children decide to compete for a local Kabaddi match - This fast paced short film makes a point about the lives, expectations and working conditions of working children. Against all odds they win the competition only to wait for a surprise.