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DNA of democracy: 'Girls State' goes behind the scenes as high school juniors learn government functionality
Director and producer Amanda McBaine behind-the-scenes of “Girls State.”
Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss have been down this road before.
When the filmmaking duo made the documentary, “Boys State,” in 2020, the pair knew there was more of a story to be told.
The pair decided to delve into the world of the American Legion Auxiliary Missouri Girls State (ALA MGS).
The program, which was established in 1940, is a transformative program that empowers young women across Missouri by providing immersive experiences in civic engagement, leadership and public service while instilling the ALA motto, “Service Over Self.”
The ALA MGS hosts a week-long session where approximately 700 high school juniors learn government functionality and how the government impacts journalism, education, law and c ommerce.
The result is the documentary, “Girls State,” which begins to stream on Apple TV+ on Friday, April 5.
“This documentary shares DNA with our previous project,” Moss says. “It was important for us to leave Texas and focus on another program. We wanted to show how girls do democracy.”
McBaine says the crew spent five months talking to as many of the kids as possible.
“Once the session began, the camp was about eight days and it moved very fast,” she says. “We had to find all of our subjects before filming and then kept camera crews running with them the entire time.”
The filmmakers say even before “Boys State” was released in 2020, they began to contemplate a film about the Girls State program.
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“Boys State” was a powerful coming of age story examining America’s political turmoil and partisanship through the lens of teenage boys in Texas.
Since they began the state project in 2017, many of the political divisions, particularly those around women’s rights, have only widened.
“We were curious about girlhood in this anxious moment and eager to meet smart and ambitious young women who were just as surprising as the subjects of ‘Boys State,’ ” McBaine says. “The recent overturning of Roe v. Wade was a watershed political event, altering the American political landscape and triggering a renewed debate about the role and political representation of women in our society. A new generation is confronting this hyper-polarized moment, finding its voice and challenging the systems that have long limited the paths to equality and political power. This was the right time to make our follow-up film.”
In 2021, McBaine and Moss began informally auditioning Girls State programs in states across the country.
“We were immediately drawn to the magnitude and vibrancy of the Missouri Girls State organization and the political and cultural diversity of the state,” the pair explains. “With large ‘blue’ cities and ‘red’ suburbs and rural communities, Missouri is home to both conservative Sen. Josh Hawley and liberal ‘squad’ member Rep. Cori Bush. In some ways, this mid-western state is emblematic of the country as a whole — of its problems and its strengths.”
