MIFF’s third, exclusive Hear My Eyes event will see Sampa The Great performing live alongside Céline Sciamma’s defiantly electrifying portrait of young women of colour growing up in the Paris projects.

Shy 16-year-old Mariame is struggling: life at home isn’t easy, with her mother rarely in the picture, an abusive, controlling older brother, and two younger sisters who rely on her to look after them. School isn’t any better, with Mariame facing the very real prospect of failing. When brash, confident and free-spirited Lady invites Mariame to join her girl gang, the younger teen sees a way to escape the limitations on her life. But despite her new-found sense of freedom and sisterhood, Mariame soon learns that change doesn’t come without consequences.

Building on her reputation for assured and astutely observed studies of female adolescence, including Tomboy (MIFF 2011) and Water Lilies, writer/director Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood is a beautiful and emotionally affecting coming-of-age story. With her magnetic performance as Mariame, newcomer Karidja Touré marked herself out as an actor to watch, while Sciamma’s regular cinematographer Crystel Fournier won awards for making life on the Parisienne margins look so exquisite.

For this exclusive Hear My Eyes event, Sampa The Great will perform her signature style of neo-soul, hip-hop and spoken word poetry, reinterpreting Jean-Baptiste de Laubier’s score into a vibrant, wholly original live soundtrack that gives an exciting new energy to this refreshing celebration of female friendship and empowerment.

Girlhood screens courtesy of Palace Films.

Sampa The Great

Zambian-born Australian resident Sampa The Great has released two critically acclaimed albums, with her most recent, 2017’s Birds and the BEE9, winning the prestigious Australian Music Prize. With a sound that spans spiritually minded gospel to neo-soul and hip-hop, Sampa’s music is intertwined with a clearly-defined, no-holds-barred political outlook, and message of healing.

Sampa has performed live supporting the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill, Thundercat, Joey Bada$$ and Ibeyi and Little Simz, while also collaborating with artists like Estelle, REMI and Hiatus Kaiyote.

Hear My Eyes screenings are audio-visual events that push the conventions of film and sound beyond their familiar forms. Translating the original cinematic experience for the 21st century, the Hear My Eyes team work with local musicians to reinterpret a film’s soundtrack and perform it live at the screening.

Artistic Director: Haydn Green