Smalltown Girl: Kiel Drama – Hille Norden

by Britta Schmeis

Jonna, played by Luna Jordan, is fascinated by her former schoolmate Nore, whom she meets again after years. She stands out not only with her costume-like outfits, but also with her unconventional life, her very open nature, her seemingly casual, but perhaps also rather obsessive approach to sex.

“I wanted to tell a story that comforts you”

Soon Nore and Jonna are sharing an apartment and often the men too. But at some point Jonna realizes that behind Nore’s self-confident facade there is a damaged little girl.

“Do you sometimes feel really horny and good for a moment and then pretty disgusting and a little empty?”
“What do you do then?”
“Take a shower. And if that doesn’t help, take the next one.”

Movie scene

The young Kiel filmmaker Hille Norden, who is presenting her feature film debut with “Smalltown Girl”, is also ruthless and radical: “The film is definitely autobiographically inspired; or I would call it an autofiction. I wanted to tell a story that I hadn’t found yet, that comforts you, that gives you courage. I thought: I am a young woman, I have a life that has always been beautiful, and I would like to get in touch with myself and with people. I want to love and live. And I would like to be able to have fun while I’m sad, because I believe that both can be done at the same time.”

Filmmaker Hille Norden breaks boundaries with her film. Topics include sexual self-determination, freedom and brutal openness.

With courage, willpower and a lot of talent

Hille Norden started writing stories at the age of 16, including at the Nordic Film Days, where she took part in the “Young Nordic Filmmakers” program. She has now made several short films and documentaries, written screenplays and also acted herself. An incredible career that also has something to do with a certain boldness and a lot of courage, perseverance and unconditional willpower: “I think you succeed in something like this because you have no idea what you’re doing.”

That may have been true for 16-year-old Hille Norden – but no longer for the now 27-year-old. Helge Albers, managing director of MOIN Filmförder Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, has been observing and supporting her career for many years: “Hille Norden is a phenomenon. The film workshop is our talent room, and Hille was with us very early on and never let herself be turned away. We wouldn’t have wanted to turn her away at all. She showed that she wanted to make films. I think she’s a really great directing personality.”

“Smalltown Girl”: Shrill, brutal, fascinating

“Smalltown Girl” is incredibly opulent and shrill, wild and lavishly staged. Some scenes look like a Rembrandt painting, almost overloaded. A very conscious decision by the filmmaker: “What is horrible and ugly remains so. But you can put a little party hat on small, horrible things, and then they wear the party hat. That’s how I do it with my own life. You can gloss over the past, and you shouldn’t gloss over it. But if I’m going to deal with something sad, then I at least want to do it with a good shower, with something nice on, in a nice environment.”

That’s exactly how “Smalltown Girl” is: often unbearable, brutal and always fascinating to watch – also thanks to Dana Herfurth’s acting with her vulnerability and toughness at the same time. A figure full of ambivalence. She gives in to self-deception until Jonna begins the painful journey into the past with her. “Now we tell our story,” Nore says at one point. Telling the story becomes a liberation for them. Hopefully the filmmaker Hille Norden also has many more stories to tell in the cinema.

Smalltown Girl

Genre:

Drama

Year of production:

2025

Country of production:

Deutschland

Additional info:

with Dana Herfurth, Luna Jordan, Jakob Geßner and others

Director:

Hill North

Long:

122 minutes

Age recommendation:

from 16 years

Cinema release:

15 January 2026