Girlhood

Three teenage girls find refuge in their friendship as they struggle with gender expectations, eating disorders and an addiction to social media amid a long, emotionally stifling quarantine in Greece. "Girlhood" follows Vera, Christina and Nefeli, three seventeen-year-old girls in Athens who come of age during the pandemic. From the first frame, we’re invited into their worlds as they talk about their frustrations and dreams. These intimate, sometimes painful conversations are threaded with the Instagram, YouTube and TikTok videos shaping their self-image in quarantine. Tough, responsible, and mature beyond her years, Christina shares a room with her brother, helps her mother with the housework, and yearns more than anything to leave home and gain her independence. Brave Vera is insecure about her weight and longs for acceptance, while also yearning for a more inclusive world. And strong-willed Nefeli, a competitive dancer, discovers feminism and stops hanging out with boys. This coming-of-age story shows teenage girls trying to figure out how to love themselves as they transition from girls to women in a society that remains deeply patriarchal. Even as their faces are glued to a screen during quarantine, they find refuge in their friendship as they finish school and begin the road to adulthood.