INDIANAPOLIS — In 2020, documentary film "Boys State" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize. It later went on to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.
Four years later, directors and producers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine are releasing a follow-up, appropriately titled "Girls State."
"We always knew we were going to make a 'Girls State' film," McBaine said. "Even before 'Boys State' was resonating for people, we always had unfinished business because this program is divided by gender and has been for 80 years — it's a little old-fashioned that way."
All 50 states hold a Girls State program, where high school juniors gather for a weeklong program to explore politics and democracy, building a government from the ground up to weigh in on the issues at hand today.
"Boys State" was filmed at the Texas program, while "Girls State" followed the Missouri gathering.
"Missouri is interesting because it doesn't come with the reputational baggage that Texas does," McBaine said. "In some ways, a lot people don't even know what Missouri – Is it red? Is it blue? – I like that there isn't a lot of baggage there. I also like that it has such a diverse city of rural and urban environments."
While 500 teenage girls attend the program, the documentary follows Emily Worthmore, Nisha Murali, Faith Glasgow, Cecilia Bartin, Maddie Rowan, Tochi Ihekona and Brooke Taylor.
"The day the film premiered, we went to this event, and I had a woman come up to me and thank me for South Asian representation and tell me that she would show this to her daughters," Murali said. "I cried. I told everyone I know. I cried more. I'm crying now."
"These girls are amazing, of course they're real people, but they are movie stars," Moss said. "They're exceptional, they're bright, they're ambitious, they're politically knowledgeable. They're also open and vulnerable to letting a documentary crew follow them around in a really intense experience."
Click here to learn more about the Girls State program, which is sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary.
"They show us a possible future for America that actually looks brighter than we might feel right now," Moss said. "I think these young women give us hope, despite their political differences."
"Girls State" begins streaming Friday, April 5 on Apple TV+.