Girls Will Be Girls

Girls Will Be Girls

TIFF65: Greek Premiere
Sixteen-year-old Mira, a straight-A student at a boarding school in India, experiences her sexual awakening when she starts growing closer to a classmate. However, her austere mother, a woman who has grown up fully aligned with the ultra-conservative social environment, sets up barriers between the two teenagers. While Anila insists on getting in the way of the kids in an attempt to shield her daughter from the “worst-case scenario,” a hidden rivalry starts to build up between the mother and her rebellious daughter. In her first foray into fiction storytelling, the Indian director scores a minor cinematic triumph, navigating the saturated coming-of-age film genre in an exemplary fashion without losing heart, following the often bumpy road to the assumption of desire and the quest for female emancipation. As she charts this impressively solid dramatic terrain, a first-time screen actress and an emerging star compete side by side, in a film that roars with with the belief that, no matter what, Girls Will Be Girls—whether you like it or not.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Shuchi Talati
Script: Shuchi Talati
Cinematography: Jih-E Peng
Editing: Amrita David
Sound: Carole Verner, Laure Arto, Colin Favre-Bulle
Music: Pierre Oberkampf, Sneha Khanwalkar
Actors: Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti, Kesav Binoy Kiron
Production: Dolce Vita Films, Pushing Buttons Studio, Crawling Angels Films
Producers: Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne, Shuchi Talati
Co-production: Hummel Films, Cinema Inutile, Blink Digital, Arte Cofinova
Costumes: Shaahid Amir
Format: DCP
Color: Color
Production Country: India, France, USA, Norway
Production Year: 2024
Duration: 118'
Distribution in Greece: Cinobo
Contact: Luxbox
Awards/Distinctions: Audience Award, Special Jury Award for Acting – Sundance FF 2024, Best Director – Sofia IFF 2024, TransIlvania Trophy – Transilvania IFF 2024, Grand Prize – Biarritz FF 2024

Shuchi Talati

Shuchi Talati is a filmmaker from India whose work challenges dominant narratives around gender, sexuality, and South Asian identity. Her feature film Girls Will Be Girls premiered in the Sundance Film Festival competition. Girls Will Be Girls has received Aide Aux Cinémas du Monde and Sørfond grants, as well as the ArteKINO and VFF Talent Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. It has also been selected for Gotham Week, Berlinale Script Station, and Cine Qua Non Script Lab. Her short film A Period Piece was selected for SXSW. Another short film, Mae and Ash, won numerous awards before becoming a Vimeo Staff Pick. Shuchi is an alumna of Berlinale Talents, and her work has also been recognized by the New York State Council for the Arts and Région Île-de-France. She is a graduate of the American Film Institute. She lives in NYC and is a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective, the Bitchitra Collective, and the Freelance Solidarity Project.

Filmography

2006 Rooted in Hope (short doc, co-direction)
2012 Mae and Ash (short)
2016 Choice (short)
2020 A Period Piece (short)
2024 Girls Will Be Girls