She was the yearbook photographer, she was the star of the softball team. Can we make it any more obvious?
The high-school love story that’s been killing it at Sundance is finally hitting Australian screens. The award-winning film follows Anne (Gelula), who, in photographing school softball star, Sasha (Hildebrand), for the yearbook, falls head over heels in that whirlwind, naïve way that only adolescence can bring.
Stars Dylan Gelula and Brianna Hildebrand say the teens’ journeys are as endearing as they are meaningful.
“The film follows three teens who are searching for the answers to why they feel and do what they do,” says Brianna. “[Sasha] is constantly striving to be seen as the best in everything she participates in, maybe to make up for the fact that she doesn’t quite see herself in that way.”
“[Anne] has good taste in things, a good eye, she’s smart. She’s just also seventeen and an awkward dweeb,” says Dylan.
“I think [Sasha] admires Anne’s ability to be herself despite what others might believe about her. Anne owns a sort of courage that Sasha has yet to find in herself,” adds Brianna.
Director, Kerem Sanga says the film’s relatability comes from that universal mystery: love. “So much about falling in love is out of our control — the real story is in what we do in response,” he says.
First Girl I Loved is playing at the Dendy in Newtown, NSW, on July 13th, and at the New Farm Cinema in Qld on July 14th.
Catch the trailer below.
