A teenager who, while caring for her brother along with her audacious mother, strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist who is protesting one of the most landmark medical cases of all time. Inspired by a semi-autobiographical story.

Writer-director Laura Chinn makes an unforgettable debut with a script inspired by her own teenage experience. Set in 2005 in St. Petersburg, Florida, Suncoast is a sensitively told coming-of-age story as Chinn’s young heroine finds friendship through unexpected connections and gestures and is forced to reckon with the gravity of her brother’s health. In a breakout role, Nico Parker embodies Doris, an awkward high schooler whose unique and troubling home life ultimately provides opportunities for her freedom and an unexpected entrée into the popular kids’ clique. Laura Linney shines as Doris’ preoccupied mother and finds complex human behavior under unimaginable circumstances. Separately and together, a mother and daughter face a situation bigger than themselves that builds to a crescendo of deep emotional power and pathos.—KY

This film contains strobe effects.

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28) and credentialed press and industry (January 24–28).