December 26th: GIRLHOOD (Céline Sciamma, 2014)

French-born Céline Sciamma is a graduate of the prestigious film school La Fémis in Paris, which also counts Clare Denis, Louis Malle, Arnaud Desplechin, André Techine, Theo Angelopolous, and others among its alumni. Her thesis project was a screenplay which her academic mentor, director Xavier Beauvois, encouraged her to make herself, which she did. Water Lillies was a critical success and appeared in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as earning her a César nomination for Best Debut Film.

Sciamma followed up with another highly-praised film, Tomboy, which continued to explore LGBTQ issues of gender identity and sexuality in teenagers, and won various festival awards. Her next film grew out of observations of Parisian gangs of girls in public, then via some of their blogs. She made the decision early on to feature black girls in the film, not to examine a culture outside her own, but merely to give opportunity to faces she wasn't seeing often in French cinema.

Because of the small number of black women and girls Sciamma found at casting agencies and in acting classes, she did an overwhelming majority of the film's casting in public, on the street, finding non-actors with interesting personalities and looks who could bring some improvisation to their characters. She found her lead in Karidja Touré, born and raised in and around Paris. 

Set in the suburbs, the story largely eschews the presence of parental figures, as well as any fleshed-out male characters, electing to keep her focus on the world of the young women. She also paid less attention in her third film to sexuality and more to general frustrations and desires of teenage girls, particularly ones living in the suburbs, as well as themes involving friendships and their betrayals and loyalties. 

Behind the camera was Sciamma's usual cinematographer, Crystal Fournier (Nico, 1988). Despite the film's low budget and intimate portrayals, the two leaned towards loose, colorful imagery that accentuates the freedom of the age group. Sciamma chose the costumes for the main characters herself, as she felt it was tied very closely to how the characters are written, and the prominent clothing changes between the film's four sections underline the themes.

One particular scene of note is of the four girl friends in a hotel room, enjoying the spoils of their labors, dancing and singing along to Rihanna's song "Diamonds". While the production did purchase the rights to the song before shooting, they eventually required the artist's approval, which was granted after they sent her the finished scene for viewing.

Girlhood debuted in the Director's Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival, and also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance. It received a wide distribution in France and was successful with audiences. The film garnered César nominations for Best Director, Most Promising Actress, Best Sound, and Best Original Score, as well as the international press Lumieres nominations for Best Film, Director, Most Promising Actress, winning a special jury prize.

Running time is approx. 1 hour, 50 min.