Big Girls Don’t Cry… They Open NZIFF

After premiering at Sundance earlier this year, Big Girls Don’t Cry is returning to Aotearoa as the opening night film for this year’s Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF).

Edited by Cushla Dillon (DEGANZ) and Chia-Chi Hsu, the feature is a tender coming-of-age portrait of girlhood, set in early 2000s Matakana. The film follows 14-year-old Sid as she’s caught between childhood and adolescence, navigating burgeoning sexual curiosity, and grappling with a desperate need for acceptance and all the clumsiness of growing up. Playing out in the era of dial-up internet and reality TV, the film weaves together themes of queer adolescence, class shame and identity, at a moment when the wider world was starting to seep into small-town Aotearoa.

Beyond screening at Sundance in the World Dramatic Competition, the film also joined other major international festivals, including SXSW, British Film Institute: Flare London and Toronto International Film Festival: New Wave.

Festival artistic director Paolo Bertolin comments on the selection, saying,

We selected Big Girls Don’t Cry for our Opening Night because it stands among the world’s best films of 2026. It’s a beautifully made, uniquely New Zealand take on universal themes.

Big Girls Don’t Cry will kick off NZIFF in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland on 29 July, before a broader schedule of screenings at 10 other towns and cities across Aotearoa.

Last updated on 3 June 2026