Winner of the Grand Prize in Cannes’s Critics’s Week selection last year, and the Malaysian entry for this year’s Oscars, Tiger Stripes has also suffered the indignity of being so heavily censored in its country of origin as to have its director disown the version shown there.

Following in the tradition of films such as Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976) and Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000), it sees a girl on the cusp of adulthood undergo unusual and terrifying changes as her body reaches maturity.

Twelve-year-old Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) is something of a tomboy, often to the disapproval of her parents, teachers, and friends, particularly Farah (Deena Ezral), who turns on her friend, leading a campaign of bullying when Zaffan becomes the first girl in her class to begin menstruating. However, the changes in Zaffan are much more severe than anyone realises.

Notes by Kevin Coyne