Niñxs (7Pm Summer Cinema)

MEX/GER 2025, Documentary, 93 min, FSK 12
Director: Kani Lapuerta · OV (Spanish with German subtitles)
With: Karla Bañuelos

Karla grows up in the small mountain-surrounded town of Tepoztlán in Mexico. The documentary follows her for eight years, from childhood to adolescence, from first questions to a clear sense of self. Karla is trans, and the film shows how identity isn't suddenly "there" but unfolds, for example in conversations with friends, through the gazes of outsiders, in clothing and makeup, during sports with other girls. As Karla masters her transformation, Kani Lapuerta combines documentary footage, social media videos of Karla, and staged and fantastically exaggerated sequences into a cheerful film in which the protagonist and director confidently reflect on the experiences of a trans youth in a rural region. Precisely because their relationship is itself a reflexive part of the film, Niñxs works as a joint empowerment project. The coming-of-age film is colorful, playful, political, witty, and illuminates queer reality with intimate closeness.