Because We Are Girls

Directed by Baljit Sangra

Three sisters have spent years bracing themselves for the pivotal moment that opens this film: the final verdict in their trial against their cousin, their childhood sexual abuser. From there, the story returns to their memories of growing up in a large and insular Punjabi-Canadian family in the small mill town of Williams Lake, British Columbia. With unflinching candour, the sisters discuss their family's dark secrets and expose a toxic family culture that relied on female subservience and obedience. These roles, they acknowledge, have deeper roots and have in part been reinforced by the Bollywood films that have structured their fantasies of romantic relationships. While the film tells a difficult and confrontational story of abuse, it is also a celebration of the loving sisterhood that allows these women to demand justice for the wrongs of their childhood years.