Film: Girlhood, with Maya Sidhu

Girlhood is a French coming-of-age drama that follows Marieme, a shy African-French teenage girl growing up in a tough housing project on the outskirts of Paris. Struggling with school, family pressures, and limited prospects, she finds a sense of belonging when she joins a group of rebellious girls who introduce her to new freedoms and risks. As Marieme adopts different identities and navigates friendship, power, and vulnerability, the film explores themes of adolescence, social inequality, and the search for self-determination. Directed by Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), the film portrays the emotional intensity of youth while examining how environment, gender expectations, and friendship shape a young woman’s path. Before and after screening commentary by Maya Sidhu. 

NR, 112 min., 2014. Closed captions (CC) in English.

Maya Sidhu is a Lecturer in French at U.C. Berkeley where she teaches courses on French as a second language and Francophone cinema. 

Space limited. Seats available first come, first served.