About

A landmark of lesbian cinema, this quietly radical coming of age film charts the emotional awakening of a schoolgirl under the shadow of rising authoritarianism.

In Mädchen in Uniform, coming of age means learning to feel—and to resist. At a strict Prussian girls' boarding school, sensitive new arrival Manuela (Hertha Thiele) becomes infatuated with her teacher, the elegant and enigmatic Fräulein von Bernberg (Dorothea Wieck). What begins as a teenage crush soon reveals deeper currents of desire and rebellion.

One of the first lesbian films, Mädchen in Uniform pairs the emotional intensity of adolescence with the looming spectre of fascism. The girls march in striped uniforms, sing military songs and are starved into obedience—but behind the school’s fortress walls, longing seeps through every crack. Passion, humour and defiance flourish in stolen moments: kisses at bedtime, whispered secrets, hidden contraband.  

Directed by Leontine Sagan, with an all-female cast and a co-operative crew, the film is as political as it is emotional. A foundational work of queer cinema, it dares to centre the feelings and frustrations of young women at a time when both were dangerously unwelcome. Coming of age here is not just personal—it’s an act of resistance. A rallying cry disguised as a schoolgirl melodrama, its spirit still burns.

• Director: Leontine Sagan
• Cast: Dorothea Wieck, Hertha Thiele, Emilia Unda
• Language: German and French with English subtitles

A Time and a Place—Invisible Women present a season of coming of age films by women filmmakers, inspired by Bradford’s diasporic past 

Bradford is famously defined by a rich history of migration. With more than a third of its population aged under 25, it’s also often described as the UK’s youngest city.  

For the Year of Culture, archive activist feminist collective Invisible Women, have curated a season of coming of age films which draw inspiration from Bradford’s story of youth and diaspora. A Time and a Place is inspired by the many nationalities who have called this city home over the past century - from the German, Hungarian and Ukrainian communities who arrived in the aftermath of war and persecution, to the Irish and Pakistani migrant workers who played such an important role in our industrial heritage.

Although diverse in perspective and style, these films (all directed and written by women) are fundamentally connected by their empathy for the emotional rollercoaster which comes with navigating early adulthood. Both Mädchen in Uniform (1931) and Hush-A-Bye Baby (1989) set school girl romance in opposition to state oppression, albeit within very different contexts—fascist Germany and Troubles-era Northern Ireland. The relationship between mothers and their children is central to both Kira Muratova’s The Long Farewell (1971), set in Soviet-era Ukraine, and Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen of My Dreams (2023), in which a queer Canadian woman reconnects with her Pakistani heritage. Finally, Ildikó Enyedi’s bewitching My Twentieth Century (1989) presents a literally explosive story of political and personal awakening, set in turn of the century Hungary.

>> Explore more events in the UK City of Culture as part of the #Bradford2025 celebration.