Sami, Joe und ich

Sami, Joe and Leyla are an inseparable group of girls. Chatting and laughing, they roam through the suburbs of Zurich. The end of their time at school together should have been the start of an exciting summer, but the three youngsters have to deal with annoying family matters: Sami suffers under her overly strict parents and a dominant brother; Joe has to look after her siblings day in, day out, while her single mother works overtime; and Leyla nervously begins her apprenticeship in a canteen kitchen. For the teenage girls, ground-breaking decisions are pending: what do they want to achieve in life? In a time full of changes, their friendship seems to be the only constant, but as events take a turn, even that is put to the test. In her coming-of-age drama sparkling with youthful energy, director Karin Heberlein gives the finely nuanced characters plenty of room to unfold and captures, apparently in passing, life in the suburbs of Zurich. (Zurich Film Festival)