(Kirsi Liimatainen, Germany 2006, 72 min., German with subtitles, Video)

In a coming of age tale that everyone can appreciate, director Kirsi Liimatainen (Modlicha, The Time of Spring) offers us a glimpse into the lives of Sonja (Sabrina Kruschwitz) and Julia (Julia Kaufmann), two teenaged girls attempting to navigate the hazardous terrain of their own burgeoning sexualities. While Sonja revels in each stolen moment of intimacy, Julia seems more ambivalent – leading Sonja to wonder if she and her friend can really see eye to eye. Kruschwitz and Kaufmann turn out subtle, emotional performances, evoking with equal sensitivity both the anxieties and joys of teenaged girlhood. Winner of a number of festival awards, including Best Foreign Feature at the Panorama of Independent Film Makers, Sonja is a moving and beautifully understated tribute to adolescence and how sometimes a single moment can become your entire world.

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