Emoticons

Fourteen–year–old Saskia is bullied at school. She has one friend who she knows through the internet and with whom she often plays violent shoot 'em up computer games. Sanne posts her introverted poetry on the web, while Samantha, a rape victim at 15, spends her time in a discussion forum advising younger girls about sex and love. Zineb, the daughter of Algerian immigrants, communicates with her relatives at home in cyberspace. Pals Debbie and Inge live out their friendship through hundreds of emails. In Emoticons, the famous Dutch director Heddy Honigmann turns her camera on teenage girls who shut themselves away in the world of the internet and communicate by computer. Each has her own reason for succumbing to the magic of the virtual world, be it isolation, separation or real–world trauma. The internet gives them a sense of safety, allows them to fulfil their fantasies and gives them a little confidence. The director shows how the virtual world can provide some young people with what they are lacking in their immediate surroundings – friendship and a cure for loneliness.