Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls” wins two Sundance awards

“Girls Will Be Girls,” the first-time Indian feature director Shuchi Talati’s coming-of-age story of a 16-year-old girl in a strict boarding school nestled in the Himalayas, has won two awards at the just concluded Sundance Film Festival.

The film won the  Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic category and the Special Jury Award for Acting for its lead actor Preeti Panigrahi, who plays Mira.

The World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Craft went to Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan’s documentary feature “Nocturnes” at the festival held from Jan 18 to 28, at the Ray Theater in Park City, Utah.

When Mira discovers desire and romance,  her sexual, rebellious awakening is disrupted by her mother who never got to come of age herself, according to the synopsis of Talati’s film.

“With precision and sensitivity,” it says, “Talati invites us into the lives of characters she intimately understands and deciphers, allowing us to experience adolescent sexual discovery with all its conflicting emotions.”

READ: Priyanka Chopra’s ‘A Kid Like Jake’ to screen at Sundance Film Festival (November 30, 2017)

“Panigrahi embodies Mira with nuanced sincerity, her hesitation transforming into confidence when she’s swept up by Kesav Binoy Kiron’s charismatic, wry Sri,” according to the film’s synopsis.

“Kani Kusruti, meanwhile, gives a brilliant performance as Mira’s cunning mother, Anila, setting up the perfect game of mother-daughter chess as these women descend into a struggle that threatens their affection for each other.

“Beautifully exploring the origins of empowerment and the limits of trust, Girls Will Be Girls celebrates the freedom of self-acceptance and the solace of female agency, sensuality, and physicality,” it says.

Panigrahi’s “luminous performance completely moved and surprised us, bringing to life a character with intelligence and vulnerability,” says the jury in its citation.

“In a film that dared to explore young female sexuality and agency with frankness and sweetness, this performance was delicate, uncompromising, and unforgettable,” it said.

“Nocturnes” revolves around a scientist and a local Himalayan resident observing and documenting the lives of hawk moths over months.

“Two curious observers shine a light on a secret universe, transporting audiences to a rarely-seen place where moths help knit together an important ecosystem,” according to the synopsis.

“The images and sound in this film immediately invoke in the audience a meditative state as they enter the film’s world, at the same time bringing a laser focus to the film,” according to the jury.

An Indian documentary has won an award at the acclaimed festival for the fourth time in a row. “Writing With Fire” won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award: Impact for Change in 2021; “All That Breathes” won the Grand Jury Prize in 2022; and “Against The Tide” won the Special Jury Award for Vérité Filmmaking last year.