England, 2014; two disillusioned 15-year-old Muslim girls – Doe, a quiet Somali-born refugee, and Muna, a defiant Pakistani teenager – flee their suburban lives, lured to Syria by online propaganda. Alienated by racism, domestic abuse, and a society that sees them as outsiders, they make their way to Istanbul, only to be left stranded when their contact fails to appear. Refusing to turn back, they continue the journey alone, navigating unfamiliar cities, and testing the limits of their friendship. Through flashbacks, we discover the traumas and longing that shaped their choices. With raw performances and moments of unexpected humour, Brides is a bracing coming-of-age story that resists easy moral judgments, instead spotlighting the vulnerability behind radicalisation and the girls’ desperate search for belonging in a world that left them behind.

Notes by David O’Mahony.