aGLIFF’s Queer Spectrum monthly screening series continues with Besties from French director & screenwriter Marion Desseigne-Ravel.

It’s summertime in Paris and Nedjma is spending her days drifting between the local community centre and hanging out with her squad, who are planning a much-anticipated trip to the beach. However, everything changes when her path collides with Zina, the newly arrived cousin of the leader of a rival squad.

Nedjima and Zina are destined to be mortal enemies. But through a shared love of music and an instant spark, a very different relationship begins to brew. Will Nedjima’s loyalties ultimately lie with her squad or her first love?

With characters that are first-generation children of immigrants inhabiting a Paris council estate, Besties is a fresh coming-of-age story focusing on teen girls whose stories are rarely told in queer cinema. Remixing Romeo and Juliet for the Instagram generation, Desseigne-Ravel’s debut feature is an engrossing and touching tale of first love.