[Herald Interview] Always around but never understood: ‘Tiger Stripes’ speaks up for teenagers

BUSAN -- Written and directed by Malaysian director Amanda Neel Eu, “Tiger Stripes” follows carefree 12-year-old Zaffan who starts to experience unexpected bodily changes as she is the first to get her period among her group of friends.

For Zaffan, puberty becomes something she fights for in front of others after being publicly ostracized at school and in the community. Later, she embraces her anger and wrath to show everyone the beauty of her changing body.

“Going through puberty and seeing physical changes is something that’s most visceral — every human has to go through it. It’s the biggest change in your life, turning from child to adult, but it’s also something that can happen overnight,” director Eu told The Korea Herald in an interview held Friday during the 29th Busan International Film Festival.

Eu’s directorial debut had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize. The movie was invited to this year’s BIFF’s Special Program in Focus section.

Eu said Zaffan started out very personal to her.

“Everyone is always saying that teen girls are monsters, that they are crazy and controlled by their emotions. I was compelled to challenge the notion of monstrosity and what the definition of monstrosity and beauty is. (The movie) is definitely more in one with celebrating the monster, because that’s how I felt growing up,” Eu said.

In “Tiger Stripes,” adults including parents and teachers at school almost always play a conventional role. They are very authoritarian and indifferent to young girls. Zaffan and her mom quarrel over miscommunication.

“(Although I grew up in London), my parents are Asian parents. In general, there are many miscommunications between parents and children. A not-really-there father and a mother who is always around but doesn’t understand what you want to do or really listen to what you say,” said Eu.

“Growing up, we never saw the teachers as human beings, they were characters. They weren’t mothers or parents, they didn’t have lives outside of school,” she added.

In the movie, it is also her classmates who pull out Zaffan’s inner rage and wrath, and face her “freakiness.”

“Growing up watching ‘Mean Girls’ (2004), I just loved the dynamic between girls in their age. It’s also a dynamic that I grew up with. This violence between girls is very real, you have so much hatred and so much love at the same time — the teenagers’ complicated relationship with their friends,” said Eu.

Eu advised anyone watching this film to face their inner “monstrosity” and celebrate it.

“For those who are young or not, regardless of the age, embrace the monster inside you and celebrate it. Be confident, fight back and brush it off,” she added.

“Tiger Stripes” is slated for local release in November.