Brave, determined, 15-year-old Lara has a lot on her plate. Not only is she starting a new school in a new city and training to become a professional ballerina, she’s realizing she was born a boy. Lara seems mature and reasonable, but like all teenagers, she’s impatient. She wants her body to be like that of the other aspiring ballerinas in her prestigious dance academy, but she still must take hormones and has not yet had gender reassignment surgery. Despite the support of her single father, younger brother, and doctor, she puts too much stress on her still-growing and developing body. Her penis is a particular problem that she first tries to solve with tape and later with a more extreme method. With transgender issues front-and-center in contemporary politics, the naturalistically filmed Girl is a sensitive reminder that not all people identify with the body they’re born in.

In competition for the FIPRESCI Award.