Alice Johannessen

I’ve always had this image in my head of a group of students building a barricade. After reading an OFSTED report where sexual harassment in schools was described as “a routine part of everyday life,” I realized that this image belonged at the end of this story.

Every woman I know has experienced this—an incident in the playground, workplace, or at a bus stop that was brushed aside as a joke, no big deal, or simply "boys being boys." A passing moment, quickly labeled unremarkable, takes deep roots and causes serious damage.

After being assaulted by Will on the school bus, Aleena can't escape the micro-moments of misogyny embedded into everyday school life. For Aleena, this environment becomes more and more suffocating—until it's disrupted by a moment of unrestrained friendship.

Our aim with Barricade was to make a film that immerses audiences in the feelings teenage girls experience on an average school day: the insecurity, rage, euphoria, blood, sweat, and tears. To ask—what happens when all these feelings can no longer be contained? Where do they go when an institution repeatedly fails to provide a space or outlet for them?

By ending the story with a moment of intense catharsis, I hope audiences will consider why this is such a rarity for survivors and victims.

— Alice Johannessen