BBFF26 Big Girls Don't Cry

Summer 2006, rural New Zealand. Fourteen-year-old Sid Bookman is caught between childhood and adolescence, navigating a burgeoning sexual curiosity and a desperate desire for acceptance. Her quiet coastal town is beginning to open up to reality TV, American pop culture and the emerging internet, while wealthy summer visitors offer a glimpse of the life she thinks she wants. Drawn to an older group of teens, Sid shapeshifts through versions of herself in search of belonging. Then her sister returns from university with Freya, a magnetic American whose attention awakens something Sid can’t yet name. As New Year’s Eve approaches, Sid must confront the gap between who she is and who she has been pretending to be. Executive produced by Jane Campion, Paloma Schneideman’s feature debut had its World Premiere in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition before its Australian Premiere in the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Bright Horizons Competition. Byron Premiere This session includes short films