A must-see masterpiece over 12 years in the making, Boyhood is a panoramic portrait of six-year-old Mason (Ellar Coltrane), a boy growing up with an older sister (played by the director’s real-life daughter, Lorelei Linklater) and divorced parents (played by Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette). The film follows Mason through childhood, adolescence, and eventually the cusp of college.

Beginning with a preliminary script and filming annually until Mason (and Coltrane) turned nineteen, Linklater invited his actors to contribute their personal experiences into shaping the characters they play, iteratively and collectively developing a unique coming-of-age project that is both documentary and narrative. Marking the passage of time for its characters and actors, Boyhood charts life in its idle, minute, and often humorous moments, revealing its heartrending profundity in the inevitable undertow of change.

Richard Linklater (b. 1960, United States) is a multi-award winning, largely self-taught filmmaker whose films of youth, disenchantment, and existential crises have defined a generation of American independent cinema. Known for his ensemble casting and character-driven narratives, Linklater is best known for films such as Slacker (1990), Dazed and Confused (1993), the Before Trilogy (1995, 2004, 2013), Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Boyhood (2014). Linklater is the founder and Artistic Director of the Austin Film Society, which promotes film exhibition, production, and education in Austin and Texas in the United States.