''Girl'' is a 2023 British drama film written and directed by Adura Onashile in her feature debut. It premiered at the

2023 Sundance Film Festival The 2023 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to 29, 2023. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 7, 2022. Films U.S. Dramatic Competition * ''The Accidental Getaway Driver'', directed by Sing J. Lee * ...

. Filmed and set in Glasgow, ''Girl'' will open the Glasgow Film Festival.

Cast

Déborah Lukumuena Déborah Lukumuena (born 4 December 1994) is a French actress. She is best known for her debut role in the 2016 drama film ''Divines'', for which she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress. Career In 2017, Déborah Lukumuena won the C ...

as Grace * Le'Shantey Bonsu as Ama *

Danny Sapani Danny Sapani (born 15 November 1970) is a British actor who works in British, American, and Indian films. He is best known for appearing in ''Misfits'', '' Doctor Who'', ''Penny Dreadful'', ''The Crown'', '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi'' and '' Bl ...

* Liana Turner

Production

Adura Onashile began developing ''Girl'' in 2017 with Rosie Crerar and Ciara Barry of the production company barry crerar. barry crerar also produced Onashile's short film ''Expensive Shit'' (2020). ''Girl'' was developed with iFeatures and

BBC Film BBC Film (formerly BBC Films) is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It was founded on 18 June 1990, and has produced or co-produced some of the most successful British films of recent years, including ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'', ''Alan Partr ...

, and received support from the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

(BFI) and

Screen Scotland The Moving Image Archive is a collection of Scottish film and video recordings at the National Library of Scotland, held at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow, Scotland. There are over 46,000 items within the collection, and over 2,600 of these are publicly av ...

. The production team decided to search internationally when casting the lead character Grace and happened upon French actress

. Le'Shantey Bonsu was scouted for the role of Ama through her primary school's drama programme in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

. Onashile incorporated elements from Lukumuena and Bonsu's backgrounds into the film. Also starring in the film are

and Liana Turner. Principal photography took place in Glasgow over the course of six weeks and wrapped in October 2021.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 8649352 2020s British films BBC Film films British Film Institute films Black British films Films about immigration to Europe Films about mother–daughter relationships Films shot in Glasgow Films set in Glasgow Scottish drama films