‘I’ll Be Gone in June’ Review: Two Teenagers Grapple with Otherness in Katharina Rivilis’ Spellbinding 9/11 Time Capsule
Katharina Rivilis' film 'I’ll Be Gone in June' explores the experiences of two teenagers against the backdrop of post-9/11 America. The story follows Franny, a German-Russian exchange student, as she navigates her identity and the trauma of a nation in mourning. Through her journey in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the film captures the complexities of adolescence and the impact of historical events on personal lives.
- ▪The film is set in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and reflects on the trauma experienced by American society.
- ▪Franny, the protagonist, is an exchange student from Germany grappling with her identity in a small American town.
- ▪The film features a semi-autobiographical narrative, drawing parallels between Franny's experiences and those of the director.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
In Katharina Rivilis’ sure knockout of a film “I’ll Be Gone in June,” two worlds of stifling teenage solitude collide at the same time as America mournfully recovers from the jihadist hijacking of four commercial airliners in September 11, 2001, which led to the leveling of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers and the U.S. government’s colonial “war on terror” in Afghanistan, among other atrocities. A widely televised violence, the images of 9/11 are among the most shocking and enduring images the world has ever seen, sadly to the point of heightening America’s messianic complex and the anti-Muslim rhetoric across the globe — and perhaps what made most Americans, and white people at large, so inured to livestreamed genocides.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at IndieWire.
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