The Fits (film)

The Fits
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Anna Rose Holmer
Produced by	Anna Rose Holmer Lisa Kjerulff
Screenplay by	Anna Rose Holmer
Story by	Anna Rose Holmer Saela Davis Lisa Kjerulff
Starring	Royalty Hightower Alexis Neblett Da'Sean Minor Lauren Gibson Makyla Burnam Inayah Rodgers Antonio A. B. Grant Jr.
Music by	Danny Bensi Saunder Jurriaans
Cinematography	Paul Yee
Edited by	Saela Davis
Production company	La Biennale di Venezia Yes, Ma'am!
Distributed by	Oscilloscope Laboratories
Budget	€150,000 (approximately $168,333)
Box office	$167,137

The Fits is a 2015 American drama film directed by Anna Rose Holmer at her feature debut. The film tells the story of Toni (Royalty Hightower), an 11-year-old tomboy who struggles to fit into a girls’ dance troupe, which begins to suffer from an inexplicable epidemic of violent fits.

The film premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival and was selected to take part in the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Oscilloscope Laboratories obtained U.S. distribution rights to the film before its Sundance debut.

Eleven-year-old Toni trains with her brother, Jermaine in the boxing gym at the Lincoln Community Center in Cincinnati. She starts to take notice of the girls’ dance team that also practices there. Toni watches through the doors to the practice room as two girls dance at each other. The next day, Toni goes into the empty gym and starts to dance, mimicking the actions of the girls that she had seen dancing earlier. Jermaine interrupts her, asking if she is ready to go hit the stairs where they go to continue training. He tells Toni that he saw her dancing and encourages her to try out for the team.

Toni goes to the tryouts and observes the team with a group of other young tryouts. The team captains, Legs and Karisma, teach the girls the “clap back call” which they try to do with little success. Toni continues to practice the routine in the empty gym. Legs comes in to pick up some water bottles and asks Toni to go fill them before practice. She befriends two other girls, Beezy and Maia. During practice, Legs collapses and appears to have a seizure before she is hospitalized. Karisma takes over the practices before she too suffers from a hysterical fit. Later, Toni tells Jermaine about the seizures. Jermaine warns Toni to not start acting like Karisma as she is the craziest one out of all of them.

Later, Toni aggressively practices the dance routine, smiling as she begins to master it. At practice the next day, she looks disappointed to hear that it is cancelled. She and Beezy play in the empty building and try on their new uniforms. They talk about the episodes and question whether it is some sort of boyfriend disease.

The next day, the supervisor announces that they suspect there might be something in the water so they should only drink from the water cooler in the boxing gym. Girls continue to have episodes. Toni watches a newscaster reporting on “the fits”, stating that city officials are working with the county health department to investigate the cause. Later, Toni, Beezy, and Maia listen in as a group of girls talking about what each of their episodes felt like. Beezy and Maia note that only the older girls have been getting sick. Maia tells Toni that she wants to know how the fits feel since they seem inevitable. Later, at practice, Maia has an episode. Toni argues with Beezy, saying that Maia wanted it to happen to her.