GIRLS DON’T CRY

Sigrid Klausmann, Lina Luzyte (co-director), Germany, 2025, 91 min., documentary, German with English subtitles

Nina, Sheelan, Paige, Sinai, Selenna, and Nancy—six teenage girls from six cultures, each with their own dreams, challenges, and traumas. From Chile to South Korea, from Serbia to Tanzania, from the UK to Germany, they struggle against social prejudices and personal conflicts. Selenna campaigns for the rights of transgender people in Chile, Paige puts her one-year-old son to bed in the UK. Nina wakes up in Serbia with four others in a small room, Nancy holds the hand of her friend in Tanzania, who has just escaped female genital mutilation. Sinai is confronted with an advertisement for cosmetic surgery in South Korea, Sheelan questions what it means to be German. They all share an impressive resilience and an inspiring courage to find their own way between pain, hope, and the future.
GIRLS DON’T CRY celebrated its world premiere at the Buff Film Festival in Malmö, Sweden. The film was subsequently screened at the Kinofest Lünen, the Zlín Film Festival, the Interrobang Film Festival, the Buster Festival in Denmark, and the Lucas International Festival for Young Film Fans in Frankfurt. It received an honorable mention at the Buff Film Festival and was nominated for the “Rakete,” the children’s and youth film award given by the student jury, at the Kinofest Lünen. In addition, the film was awarded the rating “particularly valuable” by the German Film and Media Evaluation (FBW) and won in the “Feature Length Documentary” category at the Interrobang Film Festival.