Showing Exclusively at the IFI

Foxfire marks a couple of firsts for the acclaimed French director Laurent Cantet, whose previous feature The Class won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and an Oscar nomination. Adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’ award-winning best seller Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, it is Cantet’s first film entirely in the English language, and his first historical piece.

It concerns a group of young women growing up in small-town America during the 1950s. Confronted with a patriarchal environment where men and boys are either predatory or condescending figures, the teenagers rebel, forming a fiercely protective all-female clique who refuse to conform to society’s expectations and are committed to looking out for each other.

Skilfully smuggling socio-political concerns within a thrilling drama, Foxfire is a smart and pertinent feminist tract that effectively recreates period details and features outstanding, natural performances from a cast of non-actors. (Notes by Michael Hayden.)