Film Forum will present the US theatrical premiere of Shuchi Talati’s GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS, opening on Friday, September 13, followed by a national specialty roll-out. See all playdates.

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 school’s lax penalties for boys’ transgressive behavior, and the complicated feelings triggered in her protective, unfulfilled mother (Kani Kusruti, star of 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix-winner All We Imagine as Light, opening at Film Forum this fall). 

GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded two prizes, the World Cinema Drama Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Acting for Panigrahi.