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A young Quebecois girl slowly learns to color outside the lines in writer-director Genevieve Dulude-de Celles’ Berlinale award-winning narrative feature debut, a sensitive and tasteful coming-of-age story that would perhaps have been richer, and certainly more surprising, had it embraced that lesson too. “A Colony,” however, is a neatly rendered package that cycles through its familiar beats with earnest, thoughtful grace, and if Dulude-de Celles’ focus on her protagonist’s hesitance and insecurity can make for a slightly frustrating watch at times, the performances from her young cast still infuse the film with an appealing freshness.

Twelve-year-old Mylia (Émilie Bierre) lives near a First Nations reserve in Pierreville, a small town in the Quebec countryside, dismissively referred to as “the sticks” by one unwilling resident, but rendered relatively idyllic by Léna Mill-Reuillard and Etienne Roussy’s sun-blown, tousled cinematography. Her home life is defined by her parents’ marriage quietly fracturing in the background,...