Confronting the quintessential high-school question: be yourself or conform to the group?

‘There’s so much behind my smile you don’t even know.’

Ninnoc wants to stand out from the crowd, but she’s afraid of what it might cost her. As she navigates the social pressures of high school, Ninnoc wavers between frustration and despair, her head vibrating with a constant hum of anxiety. In her moving portrait, the Dutch director Niki Padidar confronts the slippery nature of adolescent turmoil with artistry and empathy, spending time with her subject in private, in school and in staged settings where Ninnoc expresses herself creatively. The result is a film that deftly conveys Ninnoc’s courageous yet fragile attempts to balance fitting in with being herself – a struggle that for many resonates far beyond the classroom walls.