PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Alli Haapasalo, director of the film Girl Picture.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

At the Sydney Film Festival, in the program strand “Europe! Voices of Women in Film”, Alli Haapasalo presents Girl Pictures, which already premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The director starts describing her film by commenting and expanding what Brianna Zigler from The Film stage wrote about it: “Girl Picture is sweet tender and frequently amusing, a love letter to that time in life we ache to leave in the rearview mirror but ehich shapes who we are and who we love more than anything else”.  Alli Haapasalo doesn’t judge her characters and gives equal importance to every little struggle they’re all facing. The director then talks about female characters in women cinema and the changes in the aftermath of the MeToo movement.

Girl Picture : Told over three Fridays, Girl Picture follows whip-smart best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö – two teens mystified by the pitfalls of love and desire. Sparks fly when hot-headed Mimmi meets Emma, an elite figure skater determined to reach the European championships. Meanwhile, Rönkkö embarks on a bold quest to orgasm for the first time. Leaning into joy and discomfort, filmmaker Alli Haapasalo paints a tender portrait of young women on the watershed between adolescence and adulthood. Terrific performances and banter cement Girl Picture as a remarkably authentic ode to female friendship and first love.