How a Teen-Girl Supreme Court Tackled the Timeliness of Reproductive Rights in ‘Girls State’

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As a gamer with a keen interest in documentaries and politics, I found the story of Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’s journey through the Girls and Boys State programs truly captivating. Having spent my youth glued to games like “Civilization” where I built empires and governed virtual societies, watching these teenagers create their own mock governments felt like a real-life extension of those experiences.

Filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss initially encountered the Girls and Boys State programs, where teens construct mock governments for a week, when Texas boys in 2017 chose to break away from the U.S., an action that mirrored Trump’s election and the nation’s overall mood at the time. This decision to secede sparked the creation of Boys State, which served as the first of two documentaries by the couple focusing on these teenagers. From the start, they intended to explore the girls’ side too: “As parents of two teenage daughters, there was a personal angle to making this film,” McBaine notes.

A topic that surfaced in both movies was the sensitive issue of abortion. As McBaine recounts, “The boys, to their credit, seemed uncomfortable discussing this matter.” At the time, he mused, “What if I could enter an all-female environment where this topic would be exclusively discussed among women?” This was something that intrigued him about Girls State, for both personal and political reasons. In the movie, a Supreme Court is established during the mock trial within Girls State to hear an abortion case. The event in Missouri was significant as it was the first time that Boys and Girls State events were held concurrently.

During the selection phase of filmmaking, the duo spent four months interviewing numerous teenage girls via Zoom: “This setup enabled us to peer into their homes and learn a great deal from a teenager based on what posters adorned their walls and how they designed their personal spaces.” The posters that caught the filmmakers’ attention as potential documentary subjects were those that indicated self-awareness in the young individuals. As McBaine explains, “We’re searching for kids who are confident about their identities, but not everyone at 17 exhibits this trait. We required candidates who were deeply passionate about government and their specific interests.”

The movie was produced during the period when the significant Dobbs decision occurred, which annulled the abortion rights established by Roe v. Wade. At the time of the film’s premiere, a prominent female political candidate, Kamala Harris, was advocating vigorously for the reestablishment of these rights. Moss remarks: “It’s thrilling to witness history intersect with our film’s themes in such unexpected and invigorating ways. That’s why we create nonfiction films – to introduce them into the cultural and political discourse of the present moment.”

Originally published in a single issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine during August. You can subscribe to the magazine to read it by clicking here.

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2024-08-15 20:24