Girls Will Be Girls (stylized in all-lowercase; Hindi: गर्ल्स विल बी गर्ल्स) is a 2024 Indo-Frenchcoming-of-agedrama film written and directed by Shuchi Talati.[1][2][3] It stars Preeti Panigrahi, Kani Kusruti, and Kesav Binoy Kiron.[4] The film is director Talati's first feature, and the debut of Panigrahi and Kiron.[5] The film is set in a boarding school in the Himalayan foothills, and centers around the teenage protagonist Mira's romance with a charming new student, her subsequent sexual-awakening, and at times strained relationship to her protective mother.[6]
Talati conceived the story of the film in 2018, drawing from her own experiences as a young girl, her school in Vadodara, and Enid Blyton's book series Malory Towers and St. Clare's. At the direction of Talati, the film was produced by a majority female crew in order to create a safe space where "girls could be girls." The female crew include producers Claire Chassange and Richa Chadha, Taiwanesecinematographer Jih-E Peng, production designer Avyakta Kapur, and editor Amrita David.[1] The film was produced by Pushing Buttons Studios, and received a production grant from the French Aide aux Cinemas du Monde in 2021.[8] It was shot over 45 days in the northern Indian region of Uttarakhand, and in the capital Dehradun.[9][10]
Release
The film had its premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, participating in the competition section of the festival in January 2024.
It was also invited at the 29th Busan International Film Festival in 'Special program in focus' Teenage Minds, Teenage Movies section and it will be screened in October 2024.[14]
The film was selected for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024, where it competed in the South Asia Competition section in October 2024. It received a special mention from the jury, as well as the NETPAC award, the Young Critics Choice Award, and the Film Critics Guild Gender Sensitivity Award.[15]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 44 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10.[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 79 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[17]
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