The Oscars nominations got everyone in a very justified tizzy yesterday for failing to acknowledge hardly any women and literally no people of color. Yesterday we watched another movie that never had a damn chance at an Oscar really, but which is more deserving of your eyes than a bunch of white men receiving little gold men.
Director Celine Sciamma‘s Bande de Filles is a French film that is being released as Girlhood here in ‘Murcah. The original title translates to “Group of Girls,” which isn’t so evocative of Boyhood, because this isn’t just the “girl version” of that. This is an all-black, female-focused coming of age tale set in the Parisian suburbs. It follows 16-year-old Mariame — played by 20-year-old Karidja Touré, who was cast on the street — as she falls victim to peer-pressure and into drug dealing. Imagine 13 but with teenage relationships that are even more complex.
One of the most interesting things about the film is the importance of hair. At the beginning of the film Mariame wears braids, which she later unpicks and switches for a straightened weave when she joins the bad girls. She later adopts androgynous cornrows for drug dealing, which she covers with a cropped platinum wig as her disguise. The former Queen Bee of the bad girls, Lady, has her shamefully hair hacked off after losing a fight.
Watch the first official US trailer for the film below. It hits limited theaters on January 30th.
