Galaxie Clear and Marni Duggan in 'Extra Geography.' Courtesy of Sundance Institute/Clementine Schneiderman Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment It's great to have a best friend when you are a teenager. Minna and Flic, who attend an English girls' boarding school in the debut feature from director Molly Manners (In My Skin, One Day) based on a script by Miriam Battye (Succession, The Woman in the Wall), are actually so close - and so synchronized in their thoughts and movements - that they grapple with academics, boys, friendship, and other challenges of growing up as a tight unit. One day though they embark on a special school project that could well turn out to be the biggest challenge of their young lives: Falling in love. Related Stories Guest Column Hollywood's Shameful Silence on Iran Movies Luigi Mangione Short Film Debuts at Sundance, Reveals Lustful Fantasies and Conspiracy Theories So, the two friends audition together for a school performance of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and how they go about their special school project echoes elements of the famous story by the Bard: they decide to fall in love with the first person they see. That person is - as teased in the movie's title - their geography teacher. Audiences will find out how all this plays out when Extra Geography world premieres in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition of the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 23. The film's two protagonists are portrayed by Galaxie Clear and Marni Duggan in their debut performances, which will likely convert many a viewer into instant fans. And the teacher who is the object of the girls' affection is played by Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures). Sarah Brocklehurst is the producer behind Extra Geography, which is based on the short story of the same name by Rose Tremain. HanWay Films is handling sales. "Extra Geography is a very British high school movie about girlhood and the teenage friendships that shape us as women," says Manners. "I wanted to explore this time in a woman's life and dive into the emotional intensity and exhilaration of these relationships on the big screen - to shout about how these early female friendships are love affairs in themselves and to show how deeply formative they can be. Life-defining even." Manners talked to THR about casting her two young leads, moving from TV to film (she won a BAFTA in 2022 for the BBC Three series In My Skin) and the film's female-led creative team. What is it like to complete your debut feature and get it into Sundance? It feels incredible. We are very excited as a team and excited for people to see the film. It's exciting to get to be part of that, and also to take the girls out to Sundance with us. One of the many things I loved about Extra Geography is the playful tone, this mix of awkwardness and self-involvement. How did you, as a creative team, achieve that?I think that emerged very naturally. The film is an adaptation of a short story by Rose Tremain that is very short, very evocative, and very bold. So I think that had this ripple effect. Miriam's adaptation built this world out and added a lot more, including in terms of the use of language, the humor and the drawing of the characters. Miriam brought a lot of her own experience to it. That resonated with me and then woke up parts of me and my own experience of early female friendships. The boldness in the use of language is something I noticed - it is really out there in places. That's how it was when I was growing up. There was a lot of fear about how you'll appear. So, they use academia as their love language, almost. I then wanted to bring the very intimate moments out in it. So, the tone emerged naturally. There's a whole body of amazing American high-school movies, and this feels like a very British, slightly warped version of one of those. You mentioned intimate moments. Can you expand on that a bit? I was trying to look at the intimacy between girls at this age, this platonic but also slightly maternal love, and the way in which they interact. It felt really interesting to explore that. Lots of different things [flowed into that], but I hope that the film is just a very true picture of a very teenage lens on it all. These girls have such a specific dynamic because they just need each other, but they're also slightly competitive. How difficult was it to find two stars who could bring all those different layers to Extra Geography, including elements that may not be verbalized but can be felt by the viewer? That was at the heart of the casting process, because the language is so bold, but they are also quite naive. They want to become worldly, but they've got no access to the real world. So, we had to find the right actors who are brilliantly bold and super funny, but are not neces