Black Burns Fast

Seventeen-year-old Luthando, adorkable, bookish and forever drifting between reality and her vivid inner world, returns for another year at a prestigious South African all-girls’ boarding school. The place is governed by a conservative culture where reputation is everything, and nonconformity is quietly disciplined. As the lone scholarship girl, Luthando has learned to keep her head down, her marks up, and her single mother’s high expectations close to her heart. Her world is turned upside down by the arrival of a bold and effortlessly charismatic new pupil, Ayanda. The two begin a secret romance and Luthando is ushered into Ayanda’s orbit of confident, carefree friends, tasting a freedom she has never experienced at the school before. But juggling her old life, new friendships and first love becomes too much. When jealousy pushes Ayanda into a reckless decision, this not only threatens Luthando’s scholarship, but also her future and her relationship with her mother. Luthando finds an unexpected courage and firmly stands up for her truth: she is queer, and she will no longer shrink from anyone. A film about the joy that comes from owning one’s own story and identity.