Representing queer girlhoods in 2020s Australian film and television

In recent years, queer girls have found a central place in both independent and mainstream screen cultures around the world. However, studies of queer girlhoods on screen have tended to focus on US, UK, and European contexts. Taking Girls' Studies beyond these dominant locations, this chapter looks to the media cultures of Australia, exploring a recent cycle of queer girlhoods in Australian screen media: Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie's Dead Aunt) (Monica Zanetti, 2020), My First Summer (Katie Found, 2020), and First Day (Julie Kalceff, 2020-2022). Each was written and directed by an Australian queer woman filmmaker, and each was created as an effort to challenge typical queer representation and push the boundaries of Australian cinema and television. Through analysis of these films, this chapter identifies how queer filmmakers are connecting contemporary Australian queer girlhoods to the politics of the queer past, embracing the queer pleasures of girlhood and femininity, and developing more inclusive understandings of what it means to be a girl in Australia today.