‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Star’s Sundance Hit Coming-of-Age Drama Gets Sizzling First Trailer [Exclusive]
Collider has shared an exclusive first trailer for "Big Girls Don't Cry", the feature directorial debut of Paloma Schneideman, which premiered to acclaim at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and currently holds a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film marks a notable coming-of-age entry from this year's festival, which was itself a milestone event as the first since founder Robert Redford's death and the final edition held in Park City, Utah, before the event relocates to Boulder, Colorado.
Set in rural New Zealand in 2006, the film follows 14-year-old Sid Bookman (newcomer Ani Palmer) as she seeks acceptance from an older clique during a summer break, risking her sense of self in the process. Rain Spencer, known for "The Summer I Turned Pretty", co-stars as Freya, an American visitor who becomes Sid's grounding friend amid the chaos, with the trailer teasing Sid's clashes with her artist father and her own reckless adolescent choices as she navigates first desires and shifting identities ahead of the film's theatrical release.
- Sundance hit "Big Girls Don't Cry" gets exclusive first trailer via Collider
- Film holds 100% Rotten Tomatoes score; directed by Paloma Schneideman
- Rain Spencer co-stars alongside newcomer Ani Palmer in coming-of-age drama
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Rural New Zealand in 2006 is the setting for "Big Girls Don't Cry", a coming-of-age film following 14-year-old Sid Bookman as she tries to fit in with an older group of friends over a school summer holiday, testing her own sense of self along the way. It is the first feature directed by Paloma Schneideman and stars newcomer Ani Palmer as Sid, alongside Rain Spencer, best known for "The Summer I Turned Pretty", who plays an American visitor called Freya.
The film has drawn attention because of its reception at the Sundance Film Festival, a well-known showcase for independent cinema held in the United States each January, where it earned strong reviews and a perfect score on the review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. This year's festival also carried extra significance, as it was the first since the death of Sundance founder Robert Redford and the last to be held in its long-time home of Park City, Utah, before moving to Boulder, Colorado.
The film has not yet had a general cinema release, and interest has been building through early publicity such as trailers, which give audiences a first look at its story and tone ahead of that release.