Tonight We'll Become Women

Neighbors and best friends Ismini (13) and Komal (12) regularly sleep over at one another’s houses. As real "sandbox friends" – who have known each other since they were very young children – they know everything about one another. But of course they don’t know everything about life yet, so there’s a lot to talk about. For example, what happens when you get your period? And when does it happen? What is the difference between just a school friend and the close friendship Ismini and Komal have? How do you know if you are in love with a boy? And what time is it exactly? During a long night together, Ismini and Komal will cover all the issues teenage girls think about, and they will begin the transformation into young women. But will their close friendship hold up? The girls are filmed from above while they discuss all kinds of topics in voice-over. They lie in bed, they move, laugh and share the blankets. The stop-motion technique suggests the passing of time and the playful animation – a ticking clock on their flat girlish bellies and moving tampons and sanitary napkins – illustrate the content of the conversation, which is so vitally important to them. In the meantime, Ismini and Komal do what all serious best friends do: dance, dress up, play with one another’s hair – and giggle the night away.