Keswick Film Festival

Synopsis

"What a wonderful, heart-breaking, life-affirming gem of a movie this is. Having proved a crowd-pleasing hit at the London film festival in October 2019 (how long ago that now seems!), this vibrant, insightful and deeply empathetic drama about teenage girls forging their identities in a potentially hostile world is grittily realistic, yet also fiercely optimistic. Boasting a terrific ensemble cast that showcases a host of talented newcomers, it’s exactly the film we need right now, pointing the way to a more positive future while looking the perils of the present day squarely in the eye" – Mark Kermode, Guardian.

Rocks comes home from school to find her mother has gone leaving her with her young brother to look after and no money. How she copes and how she is helped by her friends is the story of 'Rocks': "Although principally a social-realist drama set in and around East London, Rocks is fortunately bereft of the miserabilism associated with the genre" – Rogan Graham, Little White Lies.

Written and directed by three women, using workshops of school children and youths, which "has given this team effort an impressively authentic edge. Everything about these teenagers' lives rings true, from their battles for survival to the exuberance of a classroom food fight, or scenes in which the girls bust dance moves (an eclectic music playlist speaks volumes about their characters) on a rooftop, or in a train carriage" – Mark Kermode again.

One of the biggest hits around the UK at the moment, it just looked too good for us to miss.