Big Girls Don't Cry

A 2006 period piece about self-discovery, BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY is a Kiwi coming-of-age executive produced by Jane Campion. Over one transformative summer, 14-year-old Sid (Ani Palmer) sets out to reinvent herself. Engaging with the pastimes of typical rebellious teens, she discovers desire, identity, and the internet as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by.

In the hazy days between Christmas and the new school year, 14-year-old Sid Bookman has a chance to reinvent herself for the tourists who flock to her small New Zealand beach town of Ōmaha. She dabbles in all the rebellious teenage rites of passage – drinking, smoking weed, self-piercing and generally trying anything to impress the popular crowd – but also dips her toe into the tantalising and dangerous realms of the internet. As Sid encounters strangers in chat rooms, she flirts with the girl she has a crush on by impersonating her best friend’s brother on an instant-messaging app. Despite her desperate bids for acceptance, she captures the attention of her older sister’s friend Freya, who sees the real Sid underneath all the posturing.

The debut feature from writer/director Paloma Schneideman (Gate Crash), a graduate of Jane Campion’s film school program A Wave in the Ocean, Big Girls Don’t Cry is a sensitive, intimate and unflinchingly honest portrayal of queer adolescence. Ani Palmer’s remarkable debut performance steers the film, conveying Sid’s youthful angst, burgeoning sexual curiosity and uneasiness in her own skin with impressive restraint, while Noah Taylor (Predestination) plays a key supporting role.

Screening exclusively at Luna Leederville from December 10.