“Big Girls Don’t Cry”, Interview with the director, Paloma Schneideman, and the producer, Jane Campion

“Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Paloma Schneideman, produced by Jane Campion, was one of the 5 films in Competition at the 47th Festival di Cinema e Donne in Florence. The film executive producers were Jane Campion and  Philippa Campbell, and the film premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2026.

From a planned short to Big Girls Don’t Cry

At the origin of Big Girls don’t Cry there is Jane Campion’s  filmmaking programme A Wave in the Ocean. Paloma Schneideman entered it  with a feature already in development, while the group’s original task was to make short films. After reading the script, Campion supported Schneideman in using the programme to explore and prepare the longer project.  The short was never produced, but the experience helped Schneideman recognise where her strongest creative instincts lay.

A filmmaking school built around experimentation

As a member of the programme’s first group, Paloma Schneideman was among ten filmmakers selected by Campion and Campbell. The participants had access to equipment, resources and guidance, with room to experiment without the pressure of delivering a finished work. Their time together also included silent writing retreats, yoga and meditation, alongside practical exercises designed to help them understand performance and vulnerability. Schneideman described the environment as unusually supportive, giving emerging filmmakers space to take risks, learn from failure and discover their own preferences.

Returning to 2006 in Big Girls Don’t Cry

Set in 2006, Big Girls Don’t Cry draws on the period Paloma Schneideman experienced growing up, when the internet and mobile phones were becoming part of everyday life. She saw the era’s less supervised online world as a compelling backdrop for a young protagonist navigating change, and wanted the shifting culture to echo her personal transformation. Schnedieman talks about the films that inspired her career:  “Little Miss Sunshine”, which showed her how audiences could care deeply about flawed, complicated characters, and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” by Céline Sciamma, who she met at the Festival of Cinema e Donne.

The interview ends with Jane Campion’s comment about Big Girls Don’t Cry, right after its screening at the Festival.

Plot