Whānau Marama New Zealand International Film Festival Announces Big Girls Don’t Cry As Opening Night Film

The debut feature from Auckland-based director Paloma Schneideman, (Aka musician PollyHill) Big Girls Don’t Cry is a tender coming-of-age portrait of girlhood, set in early 2000s Matakana.

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to rave reviews, with The Hollywood Reporter saying Big Girls Don’t Cry “pulses with a powerful sense of place and terrifically charged scenes of chaotic intimacy, its exceptional performances led by [Ani] Palmer, Rain Spencer and Noah Taylor.”

The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Dramatic Competition earlier this year, before joining other major global festivals including SXSW, BFI: Flare London and TIFF: New Wave. Along the way, it garnered rave reviews, with The Hollywood Reporter saying Big Girls Don’t Cry “pulses with a powerful sense of place and terrifically charged scenes of chaotic intimacy, its exceptional performances led by [Ani] Palmer, Rain Spencer and Noah Taylor.”

New Zealand International Film Festival artistic director Paolo Bertolin says Big Girls Don’t Cry has already achieved critical acclaim at some of the world’s biggest film festivals, and will resonate with anyone who remembers the anguish and joys of adolescence.

“We selected Big Girls Don’t Cry for our Opening Night because it stands among the world’s best films of 2026. It’s a beautifully made, uniquely New Zealand take on universal themes.”

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The film is the first feature to come from the alumni of the inaugural A Wave in the Ocean programme, a year-long intensive filmmaking course led by two-time Oscar winning New Zealand director, Dame Jane Campion (The Piano, The Power of the Dog, Top of the Lake), with co-director Philippa Campbell (Top of the Lake). Schneideman was hand-picked by Campion as one of ten emerging New Zealand filmmakers to participate in the programme.

Schneideman, who grew up in Matakana where the movie is set, says she is excited to bring the film back home.

“It’s special to be screening the film for Kiwi audiences, and I’m thrilled to be part of this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival.

"I made Big Girls Don't Cry for my 14-year-old self. Not for comfort, but for catharsis. For those who still wear the scars of coming-of-age — where shame lives, and desire and danger blur. This is not the kind of film we often make in New Zealand. And that's precisely why I had to make it."

Filmed on location in Helensville, Te Henga Bethells Beach and Mangatawhiri Ōmaha, Big Girls Don’t Cry stars first-time screen actor Ani Palmer as Sid, alongside acclaimed English-Australian actor Noah Taylor (Game of Thrones, Almost Famous) as Sid's father Leo, and Rain Spencer (The Summer I Turned Pretty) as the captivating American visitor Freya.

The film was produced by Wellington-based producer Vicky Pope and Thomas Coppell, and executive producers include Dame Jane Campion and Philippa Campbell.

“Big Girls Don’t Cry is the kind of generational film that only comes along every so often,

capturing a particular time and place with such specificity that it becomes universal,” says producer Thomas Coppell.

“Tender, funny, painful and unmistakably local, the film evokes the awkward intensity of adolescence through a distinctly Aotearoa lens, brought vividly to life by remarkable performances from its cast. We cannot wait to share the film with audiences at the New Zealand International Film Festival.”

Big Girls Don’t Cry is screening at the New Zealand International Film Festival opening night in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland on 29 July, before a broader schedule of screenings at 10 other towns and cities across Aotearoa.

The full programme for the 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival will be announced on 7 July. The festival runs from 29 July - 9 September. Multipass tickets will be on sale from 8 June. Tickets for individual films on sale from 8 July (Auckland presale for multipass holders) with other dates to follow. Details at nziff.co.nz

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