“Girls Will Be Girls stands as a riveting contemplation on female sexuality, the bloom of youth, and the yearning for adulthood.” - Kristy Strouse, Film Inquiry

 A model student, 16-year-old Mira (Preeti Panigrahi in a radiant debut performance) is the first-ever female prefect in charge of enforcing rules at a straitlaced Indian boarding school in the Himalayas. Despite her ambition and primness, she can’t help but fall for new student Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), and steals away with him to flirt and stargaze. With frankness and sensitivity, writer-director Shuchi Talati uncovers the contradictory layers of Mira’s sexual awakening, the complicated feelings triggered in her protective, unfulfilled mother, and the school’s lax penalties for boys’ transgressive behavior. 

Shuchi Talati’s thrilling and intimate debut won two prizes at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival: the World Cinema Drama Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Acting for Panigrahi. 

Join us after the film for a Q&A with lead actor Preeti Panigrahi. 

Book tickets here.