Film Editor + Director/Producer

Girls Will Be Girls

 Girls Will Be Girls

In a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, 16-year-old Mira discovers desire and romance. But her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself.


🏆 Winner, Audience Award, Sundance, 2024

🏆 Winner, Jury Award for Best Acting by Preeti Panigrahi, Sundance, 2024

 

With precision and sensitivity, first-time feature director Shuchi Talati invites us into the lives of characters she intimately understands and deciphers, allowing us to experience adolescent sexual discovery with all its conflicting emotions. Preeti Panigrahi embodies Mira with nuanced sincerity, her hesitation transforming into confidence when she’s swept up by Kesav Binoy Kiran’s charismatic, wry Sri. Kani Kusruti, meanwhile, gives a brilliant performance as Mira’s cunning mother, Anila, setting up the perfect game of mother-daughter chess as these women descend into a struggle that threatens their affection for each other. Beautifully exploring the origins of empowerment and the limits of trust, Girls Will Be Girls celebrates the freedom of self-acceptance and the solace of female agency, sensuality, and physicality.
— Ana Souza for Sundance
 

Sales: Luxbox

Press: Required Viewing

 
 

Written and directed by Shuchi Talati

Produced by Richa Chadha, Claire Chassagne, Shuchi Talati

Co-Produced by Kent Bassett, Tanya Negi

Cast: Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti, Kesav Binoy Kiron

Prouction Companies: Pushing Buttons Studio (India) and Dolce Vita Films (France) with Crawling Angel Films (India)

Executive Produced by Cinema Inutile, Blink Digital and Arte Cofinova 19

AWARDS / GRANTS

Aide aux Cinémas du Monde production grant by the CNC

Région Île-de-France production grant

Sørfond grant from the Norwegian Film Institute and Stiftelsen Festivalkontoret

The ArteKINO International Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market

The VFF Talents Highlight Award at the Berlinale Co-Production Market

The New York State Council for the Arts development grant


LABS / MARKETS

Selected for Berlinale Talent Market

Selected for Gotham Week (previously IFP)

Selected for Berlinale Script Station

Selected for Cine Qua Non Lab

Fiscally sponsored by Women Make Movies