Many Greater Missouri alumnae, friends, and supporters gathered during the 21st annual True/False Film Festival in Columbia to enjoy a screening of Girls State. It had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2024, and is scheduled to be released on April 5, 2024, by Apple TV+.
Girls State is the latest documentary film directed and produced by Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine. The trailer is now out!
This project follows teenage girls from Missouri navigating a week-long immersive democratic experiment Girls State, learning how to build a government from the ground up. It serves as a companion film to Boys State (2020). Among the many highlights includes a cameo of GMLC Alumna Sarah Dubbert, a long-time committed volunteer with the Missouri Girls State program. #SpotTheDubbert.
Filmed in 2022, Girls State takes place in our home state of Missouri, diving inside the American Legion Auxiliary’s annual program where high school girls from across the state and the political and socioeconomic spectrum across the political and socioeconomic spectrum, spend a week building a government from the ground up. The girls run for governor, use the Missouri Plan to fill the Supreme Court bench, and debate contemporary political issues. However, for the first time in history, Missouri Boys State and ALA Missouri Girls State take place simultaneously on the same campus, causing the girls to start noticing some of the discrepancies in experience. As the days unfold and the Boys program looms on their periphery, rumblings of discontent emerge over the disparities in the treatment of the cohorts, and with rumors of Roe v. Wade being overturned in the real world, the stakes feel higher than ever for these ambitious and dedicated young women. Girls State is an exhilarating portrait of our political landscape and the pivotal issue of gender equality.
We encourage all to join to enjoy this film with other Greater MO alumnae and friends.
Beyond watching the documentary, there are multiple ways for you to get involved with this civic education program. The 2024 session of American Legion Auxiliary Missouri Girls State will be June 22 – 29, 2024, on the campus of Lindenwood University. All are invited onto the campus during the week to observe the educational opportunities the program offers. There are opportunities that would allow for more direct internation with the 2024 citizens. If you are interested or would like to learn more about ALA Missouri Girls State, you can contact the ALA Missouri Girls State Assistant Director, Whitney E. Nolan, at whitney.nolan@missourigirlsstate.org or at 573.528.2400.
Speakers are also being recruited to speak to the entire cohort at an evening assembly. Contact Whitney to learn more!
P.S. If you did not experience the Q&A during True/False, you can enjoy this from Sundance when it first premiered in January.
