A German Exchange Student Finds Her Footing in Post-9/11 New Mexico
In Katharina Rivilis’s debut feature, “I’ll Be Gone in June,” we meet Franny, a German teenager who arrives in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for the 2001-02 school year. Played with quiet intensity by newcomer Naomi Cosma, Franny is an exchange student living with a host family just before the September 11 attacks. The film, inspired by Rivilis’s own experience, doesn’t rely on big plot twists. Instead, it’s a gentle, atmospheric look at friendship, first love, and the strange feeling of being an outsider in a place that’s both beautiful and bewildering.
Franny is sharp and observant, having grown up in East Germany before the Wall fell. She quickly realizes that her host family, the Garcias, aren’t the warm, welcoming types they first appear to be. They take in a foster child for the money, leave the kids in the car while they gamble, and even seem to be taking Franny’s belongings. When Franny stands up for herself, she’s moved to a new family, who give her more freedom and fade into the background as she starts spending time with local teens.
Her new friends include Sam, a smart girl with a reputation she doesn’t deserve, and a group of party-loving kids who are decent at heart. But the real spark comes from Elliot, a handsome boy who works at a drive-in diner on roller skates. He’s got a band and a bad-boy reputation—drugs, the adults whisper—which only makes him more intriguing. After a romantic trip to the white sands desert, Franny falls hard. But Elliot is a typical teenage boy, scared of commitment, and Franny finds herself waiting for a call that never comes.
As the months pass, Franny adjusts to small-town American life, now thick with post-9/11 patriotism. Rivilis captures this culture clash without mocking anyone, showing a civics class where students debate war while half of them doodle. The film becomes a nostalgic snapshot of a pre-smartphone world, where kids actually talked to each other. It’s a wispy, engaging drama that lingers like a desert sunset.