Big Girls Don’t Cry

New Zealand2026100 minEnglish

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 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

Paloma Schneideman

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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