Sundance 2026: Extra Geography

“Did you just long?” Flic (Marni Duggan) asks her best friend, Minna (Galaxie Clear), after she dramatically sighs in Molly Manners’ Extra Geography. These two straight-A students at a Yorkshire boarding school may be experts in curricular subjects, but they lag behind in more "worldly" affairs. To catch up, the teens take on an unusual summer project: they agree to fall in love with the first person they see.

Much like Titania with Bottom, Flic and Minna cast their eyes upon an inappropriate object of affection, their geography teacher (Alice Englert), ending up competing for her attention in a one-upping romantic race. Meanwhile, their school is thrown into turmoil when the girls join the boys from a nearby academy to put on, you guessed it, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Based on a short story by Rose Tremain, Extra Geography is a compelling addition to the cinematic syllabus of girlhood. There isn't a better framing to understand the volatility of love in all its forms than to look at Flic and Minna’s seemingly bulletproof bond through the lens of one of William Shakespeare’s most chaotic plays. As their friendship is marred by envy and confusion, Extra Geography avoids the antagonism of Helena and Hermia to present a more nuanced, queer-tinged rivalry that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt “like a mound” on the world’s stage.

Extra Geography earns top grades for its compassionate portrayal of a friendship breakup, though it flunks an in-depth examination of the rotten, patriarchal roots and class divides that corrode female alliances. More comfortable floating on a stylish surface, Manners’ film romanticises the minimal-tech era of the 1990s and early 2000s, while delivering some universal, hard-to-swallow truths — rejection stings, jealousy is human, and growing up sometimes means growing apart.

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Extra Geography had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival