GIRLS DON’T CRY

Six girls. Six countries. And one question that unites them all: What does it mean to be a girl in the world today?

GIRLS DON’T CRY follows Nancy, Sheelan, Selenna, Nina, Paige and Sinai, aged 14 to 16, through their everyday lives in Tanzania, northern Iraq, Chile, Serbia, England and South Korea. What separates them are thousands of kilometers, different languages and radically different living conditions. What unites them is the desire for a self-determined life and the courage to stand up for it, even when the world around them is doing everything it can to prevent it.

The movie does not show victims. It shows young women taking action.

Flight, belonging, identity – and everyday life in between

Nancy fled genital mutilation and has been living in an NGO shelter in Tanzania ever since. Sheelan survived the IS genocide and found a new home in Germany, until the word “remigration” shattered this security. Selenna in Chile is a trans woman fighting for the right to live as she always has. Nina was deported from Germany and now lives in a Roma settlement in Serbia, without the opportunities she was promised.

Paige in England is 16 and a mother, a decision she made at the last minute and against all pressure. Sinai in South Korea refuses the expected plastic surgery and instead trains daily for the BMX World Championships.

Each of these stories would be worth a movie on its own. Together they create a picture that gets under your skin.

A director who listens

GIRLS DON’T CRY is the work of Sigrid Klausmann, who became known for her documentaries about adolescents from all over the world and describes this film as her last. She dedicates it to her granddaughter. You can feel this personal urgency in every sequence.

Klausmann and co-director Lina Lužytė gained the girls’ trust before they set up the camera. The result is an intimacy that cannot be staged: honest statements, unguarded moments, looks that say more than any commentary.

The film does not judge. It observes with respect, curiosity and a warmth that draws the audience in.

Why this movie now

Because the struggles of these six girls are not isolated cases. Because genital mutilation, deportation, body shaping, teenage pregnancy and identity oppression are not distant phenomena, but realities that affect girls worldwide, including in Europe.

And because, despite everything, GIRLS DON’T CRY is not a difficult movie. It is an encouraging movie. One that shows what is possible when young women are allowed to tell their own story.

The FBW jury awarded the film the highest rating of “particularly valuable”. The Interrobang Film Festival in Iowa presented the “Best Documentary” award. It opened the entire program at the Ojo de Pescado Festival in Valparaíso.

GIRLS DON’T CRY opens in German cinemas on April 30, 2026. A movie for everyone who wants to know what it feels like to be young, female and determined.

Movie data at a glance

To the trailer