Films

In a village in rural Malaysia, 12-year-old Zaffan spends her days between her strict school and her home, where she lives with an uptight mother and an emotionally absent father. Her desire to be free is as natural as it is defiant, and so not only is she seen as a rebel by her teachers, but to her friends, Farah and Mariam, she is a leader. But Zaffan's body begins to change violently - supernaturally - and in the midst of the dysphoria, emotional confusion and loneliness she is exposed to, she will learn that the body that oppresses her is the same one that can set her free. Awarded the Critics' Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, this vibrantly coloured coming-of-age film explores metamorphosis in relation to its environment, while also pushing back against the repression of the female body from an early age. The message is: set it free. Or free it yourself.