Big Girls Don’t Cry: Sid Connects With the Older Crowd Through MSN

Sid Bookman is 14 years old and, during the summer of 2006, finds herself facing two different audiences: strangers in video chats and holidaymakers arriving in a small New Zealand town near Ōmaha. This is the starting point of the official trailer for Big Girls Don’t Cry.

The film marks writer-director Paloma Schneideman’s feature debut. Sid lives with her father Leo, played by Noah Taylor, and her older sister Adele. During the school holidays, she tries to get closer to Lana and a group of older teenagers. Meanwhile, Adele brings home her American friend Freya, played by Rain Spencer.

An identity typed on a phone keypad

Sid uses the MSN account belonging to Diggy, the older brother of her friend Tia, to contact Lana without revealing who is typing. The 2006 setting therefore does more than supply dial-up modems and button phones. Schneideman told Filmhounds that New Zealand was only then getting MTV and text messaging, while rural areas seemed several years behind the cities.

For Ani Palmer, appearing in her first feature film, reconstructing that period meant learning to play Snake, composing messages by pressing each key several times and removing overly modern expressions from her dialogue. Meanwhile, as The Spinoff notes, boys arrive from Auckland in Jeeps, bringing beer and opening the cans with their car keys. Leo also makes an obvious effort to impress Freya: concern over how one appears to others is not confined to Sid.

A cinematic summer filmed during a cyclone

Filming took place across Auckland, Ōmaha and Matakana from March to May 2025. The story’s sweltering summer was nevertheless recreated through weeks of rain and even a cyclone. In the same interview, Schneideman recalls that the wind could be seen during the swimming-pool sequence, despite the water being heated. The group scenes, partly shaped through improvisation, were the most difficult to cover within the available shooting time.

Big Girls Don’t Cry is the first feature to emerge from A Wave in the Ocean, Jane Campion’s programme for emerging filmmakers. Campion also serves as an executive producer. After premiering at Sundance and winning the Grand Prix in Biarritz, the film opened the New Zealand International Film Festival. Its New Zealand theatrical release is scheduled for October 8.

On MSN, Diggy’s username stands between Sid and Lana; on the beach at Ōmaha, it no longer does.