Tiger Stripes

The beast is unleashed in this Cannes award-winning debut feature – and she’s a 12-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl whose body is changing in more ways than one.

Boisterous 12-year-old Zaffan isn’t afraid to do as her conservative religion and strict education say she shouldn’t, like removing her headscarf for TikTok dances and showing off her bra to friends. She’s also the first at school to embark on the treacherous journey of puberty, which quickly causes her status as ringleader to be replaced with being a target for mockery and ostracism. Then mysterious scars appear and Zaffan’s changing body becomes animalistic … If you rile this beast, she’ll show her claws.

Writer/director Amanda Nell Eu’s fascination with body horror, the South-East Asian folk tale of the were-tiger and her own experience of feeling “like a monster” during puberty motivated her low-budget, high-impact feature debut. Eu’s original, darkly funny creation has already made its mark, becoming the first film from a Malaysian female director to be selected for Cannes and the first Malay-language film to scoop the Grand Prize at Cannes Critics’ Week.

“It truly growls in its depiction of the brutal nature of girl friendship and the shock of the menstrual metamorphosis … Well-observed [and] fiercely female-centred.” – Screen Daily