Join us for this week’s screening at the Tournées Film Festival on Thursday, Nov. 3.in the Center for the Arts (Building 1P), Room 223 from 2:30pm to 4:30pm.
Girlhood/Bande de filles (2014, France, 112 m)
Girlhood, Céline Sciamma’s third feature, continues to probe what has been this perceptive writer-director’s abiding interest: female pubescence and adolescence, the stage when bodies and identities are still in flux. Set in the impoverished banlieues that ring Paris and are home to many of its French African denizens, Girlhood focuses on Marieme (Karidja Touré), a 16 year old who assumes responsibility for her two younger sisters while their mother works the night shift; the teenager must also frequently absorb the wrath of her tyrannical slightly older brother. School provides no haven from these hardships: Having already repeated a grade twice, Marieme is told that vocational training is her only option. Rather than accept this indignity, she falls in with a triad of tough girls, abandoning her braids for straightened hair, her hoodie for a leather jacket—and learning the pleasures of raising hell at malls in Les Halles and impromptu dance-offs on the Métro. Led by the swaggering Lady (Assa Sylla), this crew—whose members are all played by charismatic first-time performers—boosts Marieme’s confidence.
“It’s the feminist answer to Boyhood, yet it manages to dig deeper… Girlhood is one of the most exceptional films you’ll see this year. Truly a must-see. Highly recommended!” DVD Talk
This is a CLUE event, co-sponsored with the CSI initiative and Focus on Global Women and Girls Project.
