Little Girl
May 27th, 2023

Synopsis courtesy of press kit:

LITTLE GIRL is the moving portrait of 7-year-old Sasha, who has always known that she is a girl. Sasha’s family has recently accepted her gender identity, embracing their daughter for who she truly is while working to confront outdated norms and find affirmation in a small community of rural France. Realized with delicacy and intimacy, Sébastien Lifshitz’s documentary poetically explores the emotional challenges, everyday feats, and small moments in Sasha’s life.

Out of respect and confidentiality to the family, full names will not be provided in the cast list or photo credits for this documentary. Thank you for honoring the family’s anonymity with any feature and review consideration. We hope that Sasha and her family’s story inspires others to affirm children who are comfortable addressing their gender identity publicly and that they are able to continue living out their beautiful life, uninterrupted.

Tidbits:

• Berlin International Film Festival – 2020
• CPH:DOX – 2020
• European Film Awards – 2020 – Nominee: European Documentary
• European Film Awards – 2020 – Winner: European Sound Designer

“My work centers essentially on the idea of the portrait, that is to pick an individual and try to picture his or her inner landscape – one could almost call it the inner space. And the discontinued narrative helps me to approach it.”

Courtesy of The Lives of Thérèse press kit:

After studying art history, Sébastien Lifshitz began working in the world of contemporary art in 1990, assisting curator Bernard Blistène at the Pompidou Center, and photographer Suzanne Lafont. In 1994, he turned to filmmaking with his first short, Il faut que je l’aime.

In 1995, he made a documentary about film director Claire Denis, and in 1998 he completed his mid-length feature Open Bodies, which was selected for numerous international film festivals, including Cannes and Clermont-Ferrand, and won the Prix Jean Vigo and the Kodak Award for Best Short Film. In 1999, he directed Cold Lands for Arte as part of their series Gauche-Droite. The film was selected for the Venice Film Festival.

In 2000, he directed his first full-length feature, Come Undone, hailed by the critics and released internationally. In 2001, his second full-length feature, a documentary – road movie entitled The Crossing, was selected for the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. In 2004 he began shooting Wild Side, which went on to be selected for numerous international festivals and won, among other awards, the Berlin Film Festival’s Teddy Award. In 2009 he shot Going South, which was selected for the 2010 Berlin Film Festival. Then in 2012, he directed Les Invisibles, a documentary film selected in Cannes Film Festival in the Official Selection. The film won the César (French Academy Award) for Best Documentary of 2013. That same year, he completed the documentary Bambi which was presented at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Teddy Award. In 2014, Sébastien Lifshitz received the «Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.»

Filmography:

• Casa Susanna (2022)
• Bambi, une nouvelle femme [Bambi, A French Woman] (2021)
• Petite Fille [Little Girl] (2020)
• Avenue de lamballe (2019)
• Adolescents (2019)
• Les vies de Thérèse [The Lives of Thérèse] (2016)
• Bambi (2013)
• Les invisibles [The Invisibles] (2012)
• Plein sud [Going South] (2009)
• Jour et nuit (2008)
• Les temoins (2006)
• Wild Side (2004)
• La traversée [The Crossing] (2001)
• Presque rien [Come Undone] (2000)
• Les terres froides [Cold Lands] (1999)
• Les corps ouverts [Open Bodies] (1998)
• Claire Denis la vagabonde (1995)
• Il faut que je l’aime (1994)

Here is a curated selection of links for additional insight/information: