Alibrandi

At the outset, 17-year-old Josie Alibrandi who lives in the inner suburbs of Sydney with her single mom, Christina yearns to "get out of here." She feels hemmed in by the demands of her Sicilian family, especially by her kind but strict grandmother, Nonna who has never forgiven her mother for having a child out of wedlock. The tightly knit, colourful but restrictive world in which Josie has grown up is neatly encapsulated in the opening sequence in which she escapes her extended family's celebration of what she derisively calls "National Wog Day" by going to the beach with her Italian-born girlfriends. The intelligent Josie has won a scholarship to an exclusive private school, where she has fallen foul of racist snob Carly On the romantic front; she's torn between two boys -- handsome WASP John and scruffy, fun-loving Jacob who goes to a lowly state school.
Meanwhile, Nonna is excited because Michael Andretti a former neighbour, who has made good as a lawyer, is returning to Sydney; C...