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World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Big Girls Don’t Cry

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New Zealand2026100 minEnglish
Big Girls Don’t Cry

Over one transformative summer in rural New Zealand in 2006, 14-year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity, and the internet as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by.

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Over one transformative summer in rural New Zealand in 2006, 14-year-old Sid Bookman discovers desire, identity, and the internet as she imitates the people she longs to be loved by.

Paloma Schneideman, mentored through Jane Campion’s film program, crafts an artful coming-of-age portrait of queer adolescence that beautifully inhabits the liminal space between youth and adulthood, desire and experience — a time when we’re conscious of everything, but lacking language for any of it. With aching recognition, we’re inescapably drawn into Sid (newcomer Ani Palmer in a stellar breakout performance) — her trying on of identities, mimicry, feigning of maturity, shame, and longing for acceptance — as she endears herself to a group of older teens, the first generation for whom sexual curiosity is entwined with the internet. Schneideman’s voice is fresh and vibrant, her intimate, shallow-focus photography drawn to faces and bodies, full of precarity and vulnerability and perfectly attuned to these young people. The film breathes with specificity and authenticity, ironically rendering so sharply an interior life that is, by its nature, so obscure. — JN

This film contains mature content and may not be appropriate for all ages.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 29–February 1) and credentialed press and industry (January 28–February 1).

World Cinema Dramatic CompetitionAll FeaturesInternationalLGBTQ+ StoriesWomen-Centered StoriesDramaFictionClosed CaptionOpen CaptionU.S. Only- less

Screenings

in persononline
  • Jan 24, 2:45 PM MST
    Premiere

    The Ray Theatre

    Park City

  • Jan 25, 9:30 PM MST
    Screening

    Megaplex Redstone - 4

    Park City

  • Jan 29, 9:00 PM MST
    Screening

    Broadway Centre Cinemas - 3

    Salt Lake City

  • Jan 30, 7:00 PM MST
    Screening

    Holiday Village Cinemas - 2

    Park City

    Open CaptionOpen Caption

  • Jan 31, 9:15 PM MST
    Screening

    The Yarrow Theatre

    Park City

  • Jan 29, 3:00 PM GMT -
    Feb 2, 6:55 AM GMT
    Online Screening

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Paloma Schneideman

  • Screenwriter

    Paloma Schneideman

  • Producer

    Vicky Pope

    Thomas Coppell

  • Executive Producers

    Jane Campion

    Philippa Campbell

    David Ross

    Lisa Gutberlet

    James Huntsman

    Noah Taylor

    Rain Spencer

  • Cinematographer

    Maria Inés Manchego

  • Editors

    Chia Chi Hsu

    Cushla Dillon

  • Production Designer

    Sarah Cooper

  • Costume Designer

    Karen Inderbitzen-Waller

  • Sound Design

    James Hayday

  • Composer

    Cam Ballantyne

  • Music Supervisor

    Aminé Ramer

  • Casting by

    Nikki Barrett

    Kate McGill

    Tina Cleary

  • Principal Cast

    Ani Palmer

    Rain Spencer

    Noah Taylor

  • Company

    POP Film

  • Contact

    Lisa Gutberlet

    Lisa@bluefoxentertainment.com

    +13109755026

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Paloma Schneideman

  • Instagram

Paloma Schneideman is a filmmaker and musician from Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her work examines the human condition, often through a queer and/or female lens, blending sharp cultural observation with emotional nuance. Schneideman is an alum of Jane Campion’s A Wave In the Ocean program; Big Girls Don’t Cry is the first incubated feature film to emerge from the initiative.

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