Deadline on Monday launched its streaming site for Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted, showing off the full panels of all 20 shows that participated in Saturday’s all-day showcase of the year’s best in nonfiction, unscripted and late-night programming as Emmy season ramps up.
Click here for the streaming site.
This year’s panel lineup featured a load of shows that have been generating zeitgeist-y buzz, including Gypsy Rose Blanchard joining the conversation with the EPs for The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the filmmakers behind Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, the producers behind this year’s Oscars, and the creatives behind late-night staples Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show.
The documentary field was also well-repped, featuring filmmakers Ron Howard (Jim Henson Idea Man) Roger Ross Williams (The Super Models), Morgan Neville (Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces) Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (Girls State...
Click here for the streaming site.
This year’s panel lineup featured a load of shows that have been generating zeitgeist-y buzz, including Gypsy Rose Blanchard joining the conversation with the EPs for The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, the filmmakers behind Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, the producers behind this year’s Oscars, and the creatives behind late-night staples Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show.
The documentary field was also well-repped, featuring filmmakers Ron Howard (Jim Henson Idea Man) Roger Ross Williams (The Super Models), Morgan Neville (Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces) Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss (Girls State...
- 4/29/2024
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
When filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss first spoke with friends about the focus of their Apple TV+ documentary Girls State — a companion piece to their Emmy- and Sundance-winning 2020 documentary Boys State — they were surprised to hear about the expectations it conjured in their minds.
Following 500 teenage girls from Missouri as they navigate a weeklong immersion in a sophisticated democratic laboratory where they build a government from the ground up to address the most contentious issues of the day, the film would surely come down, the friends predicted, to mean girls looking, in Moss’ words, “to tear each other apart.”
In reality, in spite of the political polarization that defines the U.S. today, the situation at Missouri Girls State was altogether different.
Related: Contenders TV Docs + Unscripted – Deadline’s Full Coverage
Participants “actually do politics a little differently than you might expect from a teenage film. I think it’s a trope,...
Following 500 teenage girls from Missouri as they navigate a weeklong immersion in a sophisticated democratic laboratory where they build a government from the ground up to address the most contentious issues of the day, the film would surely come down, the friends predicted, to mean girls looking, in Moss’ words, “to tear each other apart.”
In reality, in spite of the political polarization that defines the U.S. today, the situation at Missouri Girls State was altogether different.
Related: Contenders TV Docs + Unscripted – Deadline’s Full Coverage
Participants “actually do politics a little differently than you might expect from a teenage film. I think it’s a trope,...
- 4/27/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s Emmy race features some of the most explosive nonfiction content in recent years: docuseries on the fate of a beloved talk show host, a vulnerable young woman victimized in a case of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, the scandal involving Nickelodeon kids shows, and a revealing look inside one of professional sports’ greatest dynasties.
Deadline’s Contenders TV: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event — your indispensable guide to TV awards season — goes in depth on all of it Saturday in a showcase that kicks off at 9 a.m. Pt.
Click here to register and watch the livestream.
Among the panelists joining today are key talent behind Lifetime’s Where Is Wendy Williams?, Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, and The Dynasty: New England Patriots from Apple TV+. Gypsy Rose Blanchard herself joins us to talk about telling her shocking story in Lifetime’s The Prison...
Deadline’s Contenders TV: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event — your indispensable guide to TV awards season — goes in depth on all of it Saturday in a showcase that kicks off at 9 a.m. Pt.
Click here to register and watch the livestream.
Among the panelists joining today are key talent behind Lifetime’s Where Is Wendy Williams?, Investigation Discovery’s Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, and The Dynasty: New England Patriots from Apple TV+. Gypsy Rose Blanchard herself joins us to talk about telling her shocking story in Lifetime’s The Prison...
- 4/27/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The strikes are behind us, Emmy season is upon us, and it’s time to hear from the creatives and talent behind some of the TV season’s most talked-about nonfiction programs. Deadline’s daylong Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event will offer just that this weekend, giving awards-watchers a chance to kick back at home and take in the tales.
You can RSVP for Saturday’s livestream here.
Starting at 9 a.m. Pt Saturday, the fourth annual event features 20 panels with cast and creatives from series, specials and telefilms.
Here is what and who you can expect to see.
From ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
From Prime Video: Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story (Writer/Director...
You can RSVP for Saturday’s livestream here.
Starting at 9 a.m. Pt Saturday, the fourth annual event features 20 panels with cast and creatives from series, specials and telefilms.
Here is what and who you can expect to see.
From ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
From Prime Video: Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story (Writer/Director...
- 4/24/2024
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
As award-winning directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss prepared to shoot their new documentary Girls State, they had no way of knowing real-world events would intrude upon the production in a major way. Nor, of course, did their protagonists.
Just as hundreds of young women in Missouri were assembling for an annual exercise in mock government, the draft Dobbs opinion leaked, signaling the U.S. Supreme Court’s intent to reverse Roe v. Wade. McBaine and Moss join Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss their film and how the Dobbs ruling impacted high school-age girls embarking on their campaigns for governor, state supreme court and other high offices.
The filmmaking couple calls Girls State a “sibling” – not a sequel – to their 2020 film Boys State, winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Missouri’s Girls State and Boys State programs took place at the same time and same location,...
Just as hundreds of young women in Missouri were assembling for an annual exercise in mock government, the draft Dobbs opinion leaked, signaling the U.S. Supreme Court’s intent to reverse Roe v. Wade. McBaine and Moss join Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss their film and how the Dobbs ruling impacted high school-age girls embarking on their campaigns for governor, state supreme court and other high offices.
The filmmaking couple calls Girls State a “sibling” – not a sequel – to their 2020 film Boys State, winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special. Missouri’s Girls State and Boys State programs took place at the same time and same location,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Documentary filmmaking has never been a profession one enters into to get rich — though for a brief period it seemed possible.
Cable expanded documentary’s reach to wider audiences in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and films like “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “March of the Penguins,” and “An Inconvenient Truth” became legitimate box-office breakthroughs, but nonfiction features on the whole remained something of a stepchild within the larger Hollywood ecosystem until 2017, when Netflix acquired Brian Fogel’s “Icarus” for $5 million.
At the time, the deal was one of the biggest ever for a non-fiction film. And it was followed by even bigger deals: In 2019 Netflix shelled out $10 million for Rachel Lears’ “Knock Down the House.” The following year Apple TV+ and A24 partnered to buy Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” for $10 million, and in 2021 Searchlight and Hulu bought Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s “Summer of Soul” for $12 million.
On the surface it seemed like people,...
Cable expanded documentary’s reach to wider audiences in the 1980’s and 1990’s, and films like “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “March of the Penguins,” and “An Inconvenient Truth” became legitimate box-office breakthroughs, but nonfiction features on the whole remained something of a stepchild within the larger Hollywood ecosystem until 2017, when Netflix acquired Brian Fogel’s “Icarus” for $5 million.
At the time, the deal was one of the biggest ever for a non-fiction film. And it was followed by even bigger deals: In 2019 Netflix shelled out $10 million for Rachel Lears’ “Knock Down the House.” The following year Apple TV+ and A24 partnered to buy Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” for $10 million, and in 2021 Searchlight and Hulu bought Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s “Summer of Soul” for $12 million.
On the surface it seemed like people,...
- 4/6/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Get ready to go gaga for another group of earnest teenagers hoping to change the world, or at least win a fake election at a famous youth retreat.
The contender to watch this week: “Girls State”
In 2021, “Boys State” picked up recognitions from the National Board of Review, Directors Guild of America, Emmys, and several critics groups, so of course we’re getting a sequel. This time, directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss move from Texas to Missouri to profile teenagers attending the eponymous mock-government program. The ambitious, excitable girls are just as fascinating as their male counterparts, and you can see them in action on Apple TV+.
Other contenders:
“The Zone of Interest“: If you still haven’t caught Jonathan Glazer‘s mesmerizing Holocaust drama, which won two Oscars and continues to spark controversy, it’s newly streaming on Max. “How to Have Sex”: Molly Manning Walker...
The contender to watch this week: “Girls State”
In 2021, “Boys State” picked up recognitions from the National Board of Review, Directors Guild of America, Emmys, and several critics groups, so of course we’re getting a sequel. This time, directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss move from Texas to Missouri to profile teenagers attending the eponymous mock-government program. The ambitious, excitable girls are just as fascinating as their male counterparts, and you can see them in action on Apple TV+.
Other contenders:
“The Zone of Interest“: If you still haven’t caught Jonathan Glazer‘s mesmerizing Holocaust drama, which won two Oscars and continues to spark controversy, it’s newly streaming on Max. “How to Have Sex”: Molly Manning Walker...
- 4/6/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
You may remember Boys State, the 2020 documentary in which filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss embedded themselves with the decades-old program that lets teenagers get a taste of the political process. Watching as hundreds of young Texans played out mock versions of campaigning, strategizing, stumping and either sticking to their ideological guns or compromising their values for votes, you could easily see the reflection of the real thing in miniature. These politicos-in-training were learning just how miraculous, how malleable and how broken our 21st century system for policy-making is, courtesy...
- 4/5/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
What would American democracy look like in the hands of exclusively women? What would it look like in the hands of teenage girls? A follow-up to the award-winning “Boys State,” the filmmakers return to follow 500 young female leaders across Missouri as they engage with an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up. “Girls State” will make its streaming debut on Friday, April 5, on Apple TV+. You can watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of Apple TV+.
How to Watch 'Girls State' When: Friday, April 5, 2024 Where: Apple TV+ Stream: Watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of Apple TV+. 7-Day Free Trial$9.99+ / month apple.com About 'Girls State'
The Apple Original Film makes its streaming debut after its 2024 Sundance Film Festival debut. The film is the follow-up from directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, whose 2020 documentary “Boys State,” which tracked the journey of 1,100 teenage boys...
How to Watch 'Girls State' When: Friday, April 5, 2024 Where: Apple TV+ Stream: Watch with a 7-Day Free Trial of Apple TV+. 7-Day Free Trial$9.99+ / month apple.com About 'Girls State'
The Apple Original Film makes its streaming debut after its 2024 Sundance Film Festival debut. The film is the follow-up from directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, whose 2020 documentary “Boys State,” which tracked the journey of 1,100 teenage boys...
- 4/5/2024
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of...
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of...
- 4/5/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
What can you say about a month of entertainment that opens with a TV series about a charming sociopath and closes with a movie about tennis players in love? It’s tempting to say there’s something for everyone to watch but, more accurately, April offers a lot of choices for those with specific tastes. From the theater to streaming services like Prime Video and Max, the best...
What can you say about a month of entertainment that opens with a TV series about a charming sociopath and closes with a movie about tennis players in love? It’s tempting to say there’s something for everyone to watch but, more accurately, April offers a lot of choices for those with specific tastes. From the theater to streaming services like Prime Video and Max, the best...
- 4/3/2024
- by Keith Phipps
- Rollingstone.com
Chris Smith’s “Devo” will open the ninth edition of Chicago’s Doc10 documentary film festival on May 2.
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, charts the life of the art-movement-turned-band Devo from Akron, Ohio, through archival footage of the band and candid sit-down interviews with band members. Smith follows the band on their journey from Dadaist, Kent State radicals to unlikely icons of 1980s MTV. Currently celebrating their 50 years of De-Evolution Tour, Devo band members will join Doc10 in a live, virtual Q&a moderated by Wxrt’s Marty Lennartz.
Doc10, a four-day fest running May 2-5, features a selection of 10 documentaries making their Chicago premieres along with a package of 10 prestigious documentary shorts. The fest is hosted by Chicago Media Project, a company that has generated more than $8.5 million in funding for documentary projects. Cmp has directly supported over 150 films including “Icarus,” “Crip Camp” and most recently “Gaucho, Gaucho,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
If the only April release was my top pick of the month it would be one of the finest lineups of the years, but thankfully there’s more to recommend. Featuring films about cinephilic obsession, subversive superhero tales, and what is sure to be at least one divisive big-screen near-future adventure, check out the list of must-sees below.
12 & 11. Kim’s Video (David Redmon and Ashley Sabin; April 5) and I Like Movies (Chandler Levack; April 8)
Anyone interested in physical media will appreciate a pair of films this month. Kim’s Video explores the strange story of the East Village establishment that housed around 55,000 DVDs while I Like Movies is a Canadian coming-of-age tale about a video store clerk who has bigger dreams in life, and is chockfull of cinephile-related humor that rang quite a familiar bell for this writer. John Fink said in his review of the former, “A sweeping documentary...
12 & 11. Kim’s Video (David Redmon and Ashley Sabin; April 5) and I Like Movies (Chandler Levack; April 8)
Anyone interested in physical media will appreciate a pair of films this month. Kim’s Video explores the strange story of the East Village establishment that housed around 55,000 DVDs while I Like Movies is a Canadian coming-of-age tale about a video store clerk who has bigger dreams in life, and is chockfull of cinephile-related humor that rang quite a familiar bell for this writer. John Fink said in his review of the former, “A sweeping documentary...
- 4/2/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
An incredibly moving, worthy and welcome chronicle of the strength, adversity, and determination of these young women. Watching this documentary leaves you with so much hope for the future. Inspiring.
This was our reaction when we caught Girls State at Sundance in January of this year. You can read our whole review here, but the gist from the summary above is the sooner you see this film the better. For those with AppleTV+, the date to watch out for is the 5th of April, as the film hits the streaming service.
To celebrate the film’s release Claire Bueno sat down with filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, and the stars of the documentary: Emily Worthmore, Nisha Murali, Faith Glasgow and Cecilia Bartin to talk about their incredible achievement.
The movie will premiere on Apple TV+ April 5, 2024. It’s well worth your time.
Girls State Interviews
Plot:
The Apple original...
This was our reaction when we caught Girls State at Sundance in January of this year. You can read our whole review here, but the gist from the summary above is the sooner you see this film the better. For those with AppleTV+, the date to watch out for is the 5th of April, as the film hits the streaming service.
To celebrate the film’s release Claire Bueno sat down with filmmakers Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss, and the stars of the documentary: Emily Worthmore, Nisha Murali, Faith Glasgow and Cecilia Bartin to talk about their incredible achievement.
The movie will premiere on Apple TV+ April 5, 2024. It’s well worth your time.
Girls State Interviews
Plot:
The Apple original...
- 4/1/2024
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Girls State tracks the high-schoolers taking part in a mock government simulation just as a devastating supreme court ruling is about to change everything
Nearly seven years ago, the film-makers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine went to Texas to see government in action, albeit one run by teenagers. The country was well into the Trump administration – Muslim bans and kids in cages dominated the headlines – when the two began filming an annual American Legion convention known as Boys State, a weeklong mock government simulation for 1,000 high school boys, in the summer of 2018. The duo tried to film a similar state program for girls, but were rebuffed; they ended up with Boys State, an incisive Apple TV+ documentary that captured the chaos, promise and peril of young masculinity in the US and went on to win the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
But what if the girls were present?...
Nearly seven years ago, the film-makers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine went to Texas to see government in action, albeit one run by teenagers. The country was well into the Trump administration – Muslim bans and kids in cages dominated the headlines – when the two began filming an annual American Legion convention known as Boys State, a weeklong mock government simulation for 1,000 high school boys, in the summer of 2018. The duo tried to film a similar state program for girls, but were rebuffed; they ended up with Boys State, an incisive Apple TV+ documentary that captured the chaos, promise and peril of young masculinity in the US and went on to win the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
But what if the girls were present?...
- 3/27/2024
- by Adrian Horton
- The Guardian - Film News
American Cinematheque Launches Major New L.A. Documentary Festival This Is Not a Fiction (Exclusive)
The American Cinematheque is kicking off a robust new Los Angeles nonfiction film festival dubbed This Is Not a Fiction, running from April 10-18. The festival opens with docuseries “Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story,” with Jon Bon Jovi in-person at the Aero Theatre for the L.A. premiere screening.
The event will include in-person tributes to distinguished documentary filmmakers including Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Brett Morgen, Bill Morrison, Kirsten Johnson, Terry Zwigoff, Jeff Tremaine and Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, as well as a virtual Q&a with Frederick Wiseman.
Other premieres will include “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” “Power,” “Strong Island,” “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” a restoration of “Lumumba: Death of a Prophet” and “Incident,” plus special presentations of Morgan Neville’s “Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces” and “Girls State.” A celebration of the 15th anniversary of “30 for 30” will feature a panel...
The event will include in-person tributes to distinguished documentary filmmakers including Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Brett Morgen, Bill Morrison, Kirsten Johnson, Terry Zwigoff, Jeff Tremaine and Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, as well as a virtual Q&a with Frederick Wiseman.
Other premieres will include “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” “Power,” “Strong Island,” “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” a restoration of “Lumumba: Death of a Prophet” and “Incident,” plus special presentations of Morgan Neville’s “Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces” and “Girls State.” A celebration of the 15th anniversary of “30 for 30” will feature a panel...
- 3/19/2024
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Apple Original Films recently unveiled the trailer for the riveting new documentary feature, Girls State. The film will be available on Apple TV+ on April 5!
Synopsis: Girls State follows 500 teenage girls from across Missouri as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day. In Girls State, the country is now deeper into democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization. As questions of race and gender equality in a representational democracy reach a fever pitch, these young women confront the complicated paths women must navigate to build political power. Following a distinctly female perspective and filled with teenage insecurity, biting humor and a yearning for true friendship, the young leaders of Girls State...
Synopsis: Girls State follows 500 teenage girls from across Missouri as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day. In Girls State, the country is now deeper into democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization. As questions of race and gender equality in a representational democracy reach a fever pitch, these young women confront the complicated paths women must navigate to build political power. Following a distinctly female perspective and filled with teenage insecurity, biting humor and a yearning for true friendship, the young leaders of Girls State...
- 3/16/2024
- by Editor
- CinemaNerdz
Here’s everything you need to know about the new Fairly OddParents animated series in the works at Nickelodeon – Just Jared Jr Here’s a surprising report to add to the Kate Middleton drama – Celebitchy Here’s the ultimate gift guide for the Swifties in your life – Popsugar Get the scoop on the upcoming Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards – Just Jared Jr The cast of the beloved movie Office Space held a reunion at the new restaurant The Statesman in downtown Austin during SXSW. Mike Judge alongside cast members Ron Livingston, Stephen Root, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Todd Duffey celebrated the 25th anniversary together following a panel at the festival. See photos from the dinner in the gallery! Apple TV+ has released the trailer for the upcoming documentary Girls State, which premieres on the streaming service on April 5. A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Today, Apple Original Films unveiled the trailer for its critically acclaimed documentary feature “Girls State,” directed and produced by award-winning filmmakers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, and Academy Award winner Davis Guggenheim’s Concordia Studio. A 2024 Sundance Film Festival selection, “Girls State” will premiere globally on Apple TV+ April 5, 2024.
After the widely celebrated, Emmy Award-winning documentary “Boys State,” also produced by Moss, McBaine and Concordia, made its buzzy premiere at Sundance in 2020, the inevitable question arose: What about Girls State? “Girls State” follows 500 teenage girls from across Missouri as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day. In “Girls State,” the country is now deeper into democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization.
After the widely celebrated, Emmy Award-winning documentary “Boys State,” also produced by Moss, McBaine and Concordia, made its buzzy premiere at Sundance in 2020, the inevitable question arose: What about Girls State? “Girls State” follows 500 teenage girls from across Missouri as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day. In “Girls State,” the country is now deeper into democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization.
- 3/14/2024
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After a year-long hiatus the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 26th edition, which will take place in Durham, N.C., from April 4-7. The festival will kick things off with “Girls State,” the Apple Original docu that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
It’s been five years since Full Frame, often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” was held as an in-person event. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to Covid-19. Then in 2023 the festival was put on hold last year due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (Cds), a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Notably, Cds executive director Opeyemi Olukemi resigned last year. As reported by The Assembly, Olukemi, who took the role in 2021, was criticized as the Cds staff shrank and a bulk of...
It’s been five years since Full Frame, often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” was held as an in-person event. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to Covid-19. Then in 2023 the festival was put on hold last year due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (Cds), a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Notably, Cds executive director Opeyemi Olukemi resigned last year. As reported by The Assembly, Olukemi, who took the role in 2021, was criticized as the Cds staff shrank and a bulk of...
- 3/14/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
AppleTV+ has debuted the trailer for the documentary feature ‘Girls State.’ We saw the film at Sundance this year and loved it.
The Apple original film follows 500 teenage girls from across Missouri as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day.
In the film, the country is now deeper into a democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization. As questions of race and gender equality in a representational democracy reach a fever pitch, these young women confront the complicated paths women must navigate to build political power. Following a distinctly female perspective and filled with teenage insecurity, biting humour and a yearning for true friendship, the young leaders of “Girls State...
The Apple original film follows 500 teenage girls from across Missouri as they gather for a week-long immersion in an elaborate laboratory of democracy, where they build a government from the ground up, campaign for office and form a Supreme Court to weigh the most divisive issues of the day.
In the film, the country is now deeper into a democratic crisis, with civil discourse and electoral politics increasingly fragile under ever more extreme political polarization. As questions of race and gender equality in a representational democracy reach a fever pitch, these young women confront the complicated paths women must navigate to build political power. Following a distinctly female perspective and filled with teenage insecurity, biting humour and a yearning for true friendship, the young leaders of “Girls State...
- 3/14/2024
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
"Often when women start talking politics we get shut down." Apple TV has revealed the official trailer for the documentary film Girls State, the highly anticipated follow-up to the 2020 doc film Boys State by the same filmmakers - Amanda McBaine & Jesse Moss. This premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, just as Boys State did, and it will be streaming on Apple TV+ this April. "There's something in the air—it’s politics." What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? A political coming-of-age story and stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, Girls State follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up. Sundance also adds: "McBaine and Moss stay embedded in Girls State, following several charismatic candidates, but these aspiring change-makers keenly take note of the Boys State program,...
- 3/14/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Four years ago, just before the pandemic was in full force, Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ Boys State picked up the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival. Well-timed with the election year, it captured a week-long leadership program, sponsored annually by the American Legion and held in nearly every state, chronicling several-hundred Texas high school students gathering to form and choose a mock government. With another election year upon us, the directors are now back for a gender-swapped sequel Girls State, this time taking place in Missouri. Ahead of an April 5 release on Apple TV+, the first trailer has arrived.
Jake Kring-Schreifels said in his review, “Four years later, McBain and Moss have returned to Sundance with Girls State, the proverbial, gender-swapped sequel that attempts to achieve likeminded goals. Perhaps because Boys State didn’t acknowledge this parallel sister program, Girls State is at once a chance to redeem that oversight,...
Jake Kring-Schreifels said in his review, “Four years later, McBain and Moss have returned to Sundance with Girls State, the proverbial, gender-swapped sequel that attempts to achieve likeminded goals. Perhaps because Boys State didn’t acknowledge this parallel sister program, Girls State is at once a chance to redeem that oversight,...
- 3/14/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“Squid Game” Updates + More on Netflix’s Upcoming Korean Programming Slate
“Squid Game” Season 2 still hasn’t been given a concrete premiere date other than “sometime in 2024,” but Netflix is still building up excitement for its hit Korean series and all its other upcoming Korean titles.
The streamer has officially confirmed its expanded cast for the highly anticipated second season of the thriller, which centers on 456 individuals with deep debts who risk their lives to play a series of deadly children’s games for the chance to win the ₩45.6 billion prize.
The second season, which will see the return of protagonist and game victor Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and antagonists the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), and the Recruiter (Gong Yoo), will follow Gi-hun “as he abandons his plans to go to the United States and starts a chase with a motive.”
New cast members include Yim Si-wan,...
“Squid Game” Season 2 still hasn’t been given a concrete premiere date other than “sometime in 2024,” but Netflix is still building up excitement for its hit Korean series and all its other upcoming Korean titles.
The streamer has officially confirmed its expanded cast for the highly anticipated second season of the thriller, which centers on 456 individuals with deep debts who risk their lives to play a series of deadly children’s games for the chance to win the ₩45.6 billion prize.
The second season, which will see the return of protagonist and game victor Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and antagonists the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), and the Recruiter (Gong Yoo), will follow Gi-hun “as he abandons his plans to go to the United States and starts a chase with a motive.”
New cast members include Yim Si-wan,...
- 2/7/2024
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Apple TV+ today announced release dates for a slew of new and returning series on the first day of the Television Critics Association’s Winter 2024 press tour. They include new seasons of returning series including Acapulco, The Big Door Prize, Acapulco, The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy and Trying.
Also announced were dates for new series The New Look, The Dynasty: New England Patriots, Constellation, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Manhunt, Palm Royale, Sugar, Franklin, Dark Matter, Presumed Innocent and Land of Women.
“Today we are elated to be unveiling so many brilliant new stories and characters for audiences to fall in love with in 2024,” said Matt Cherniss, head of domestic programming, Apple TV+. “These compelling series all reflect Apple’s dedication to crafting stories that not only entertain but reflect the richness of our shared human experience, foster a sense of understanding and spark cultural conversations around the world.
Also announced were dates for new series The New Look, The Dynasty: New England Patriots, Constellation, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Manhunt, Palm Royale, Sugar, Franklin, Dark Matter, Presumed Innocent and Land of Women.
“Today we are elated to be unveiling so many brilliant new stories and characters for audiences to fall in love with in 2024,” said Matt Cherniss, head of domestic programming, Apple TV+. “These compelling series all reflect Apple’s dedication to crafting stories that not only entertain but reflect the richness of our shared human experience, foster a sense of understanding and spark cultural conversations around the world.
- 2/5/2024
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Film Festival 2024 coverage continues with two entries involving youth and navigating social circles at a vulnerable age.
The first is a sequel to the documentary Boys State titled Girls State, where the girls run mock elections in a massive group.
The second film is a coming-of-age story called Didi, about an Asian American teenager learning to be true to himself in an awkward phase of life.
Both movies are derived from different genres but equally, have something to say about finding oneself in a large social gathering.
Should viewers see these movies?
Here are our capsule reviews of Didi and Girls State from Sundance 2024.
Girls State
Girls State is a documentary of a different flavor than its predecessor. The first entry was a captivating spotlight on how cutthroat politics can be, even among children. Boys State felt similar to the Stanford Prison Experiment, where personalities change when thrown inside a simulation.
The first is a sequel to the documentary Boys State titled Girls State, where the girls run mock elections in a massive group.
The second film is a coming-of-age story called Didi, about an Asian American teenager learning to be true to himself in an awkward phase of life.
Both movies are derived from different genres but equally, have something to say about finding oneself in a large social gathering.
Should viewers see these movies?
Here are our capsule reviews of Didi and Girls State from Sundance 2024.
Girls State
Girls State is a documentary of a different flavor than its predecessor. The first entry was a captivating spotlight on how cutthroat politics can be, even among children. Boys State felt similar to the Stanford Prison Experiment, where personalities change when thrown inside a simulation.
- 1/28/2024
- by John Dotson
- Monsters and Critics
First you get radicalized, then you get professionalized—a familiar trajectory Chris Smith’s Devo retells in a familiar idiom. After sitting down with dour conspiracy theorist Michael Ruppert for 2009’s Collapse, the American Movie director didn’t make a feature for eight years. He returned to begin his populist doc era with 2017’s Jim & Andy, which made generous use of previously unseen videos of Jim Carrey acting like a maniac “in character” as Andy Kaufman on the set of 1999’s Man on the Moon. In present-day interviews, Carrey described his dilemma: having given a performance at a relatively young age that confirmed […]
The post Sundance 2024: Devo, War Game, Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance 2024: Devo, War Game, Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/25/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
First you get radicalized, then you get professionalized—a familiar trajectory Chris Smith’s Devo retells in a familiar idiom. After sitting down with dour conspiracy theorist Michael Ruppert for 2009’s Collapse, the American Movie director didn’t make a feature for eight years. He returned to begin his populist doc era with 2017’s Jim & Andy, which made generous use of previously unseen videos of Jim Carrey acting like a maniac “in character” as Andy Kaufman on the set of 1999’s Man on the Moon. In present-day interviews, Carrey described his dilemma: having given a performance at a relatively young age that confirmed […]
The post Sundance 2024: Devo, War Game, Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Sundance 2024: Devo, War Game, Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/25/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
So many factors go into choosing the right movie at Sundance. The 2024 edition of the Utah Independent Film Festival is playing host to 81 documentaries and narrative features. Some films have the star power and names to immediately pique your interest. Some have plot descriptions that are impossible to ignore. Some completely fly under the radar until word of mouth takes over the streets of Park City and you have to pray you can find a ticket to the next screening.
But some movies you know you have to see the moment you see the name. The one for me this year was Girl’s State, the “sibling” documentary to 2020’s Boy’s State.
This inspiring documentary follows several high school girls as they attend a week-long education program where they build a state government from the ground up. 2020 Boy’s State followed several young men as they attended a similar program in Texas.
But some movies you know you have to see the moment you see the name. The one for me this year was Girl’s State, the “sibling” documentary to 2020’s Boy’s State.
This inspiring documentary follows several high school girls as they attend a week-long education program where they build a state government from the ground up. 2020 Boy’s State followed several young men as they attended a similar program in Texas.
- 1/25/2024
- by Nathan McVay
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The list of accomplishments high school student Emily Worthmore reels off early in “Girls State” sounds impressive at first. Then it becomes a bit concerning. It’s not that the personable teen from suburban St. Louis has padded her resume — hardly. It’s that her list has the feeling of a too tightly wound drive to hit the right milestones on the way to being, as she hopes, the president in 2040. “Every election I’ve put myself in, I’ve won,” she says, “since fourth grade.”
So it comes as no surprise that Worthmore is among three young women featured in the Sundance-debuting documentary who have set their sights on the governorship of Missouri Girls State. For their engaging female-focused followup to 2020’s Texas-set “Boys State,” co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss traveled to the Show Me State in June of 2022 to show us the American Legion Auxiliary’s annual program for high school girls,...
So it comes as no surprise that Worthmore is among three young women featured in the Sundance-debuting documentary who have set their sights on the governorship of Missouri Girls State. For their engaging female-focused followup to 2020’s Texas-set “Boys State,” co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss traveled to the Show Me State in June of 2022 to show us the American Legion Auxiliary’s annual program for high school girls,...
- 1/21/2024
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
After a snowy Wednesday in Park City dampered some of the arrival fanfare of previous festivals, Sundance soaked up the sun on Thursday’s opening day. With plenty of powder to lend an idyllic backdrop to selfies and social media updates, the festival crowd was buzzing in line for the day’s largest film opening: “Freaky Tales,” taking the coveted early evening spot at the Eccles Center. Dozens of stand-by hopefuls were left in the cold for the popular event though, which kicked off the festival with a riotous screening.
The film marks a Sundance homecoming for director Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, whose breakout hit was the 2006 Sundance favorite “Half Nelson”; the pair most recently helmed the decidedly not indie 2019 superhero flick “Captain Marvel.” “Freaky Tales” is a return to their scrappy roots: An anthology horror-thriller-comedy that pays tribute to ’80s Oakland, the film stars Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis,...
The film marks a Sundance homecoming for director Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, whose breakout hit was the 2006 Sundance favorite “Half Nelson”; the pair most recently helmed the decidedly not indie 2019 superhero flick “Captain Marvel.” “Freaky Tales” is a return to their scrappy roots: An anthology horror-thriller-comedy that pays tribute to ’80s Oakland, the film stars Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis,...
- 1/19/2024
- by William Earl, J. Kim Murphy and Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance film festival: Film-makers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine struck gold with their film on a mock government program for 1,000 teenage boys. Now, it’s the girls’ turn.
In 2018, film-makers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine struck gold – or, rather, tuned into it – when they attended a weeklong Texas program in which 1,000 teenage boys elect and run a mock state government. Their subsequent film, Boys State, bottled the potential and peril of the future – the idealism and ambition of youth, the capacity to change one’s mind, the allure of power, the corrosive codes of masculinity – into two hours at once terrifying and hopeful, winning the 2020 Sundance documentary grand jury prize.
Now the duo returns to the festival with Girls State, a similarly structured look at a Boys State sister program in Missouri. Though the mock government programs, run by the American Legion, remain separated by sex in the state, the...
In 2018, film-makers Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine struck gold – or, rather, tuned into it – when they attended a weeklong Texas program in which 1,000 teenage boys elect and run a mock state government. Their subsequent film, Boys State, bottled the potential and peril of the future – the idealism and ambition of youth, the capacity to change one’s mind, the allure of power, the corrosive codes of masculinity – into two hours at once terrifying and hopeful, winning the 2020 Sundance documentary grand jury prize.
Now the duo returns to the festival with Girls State, a similarly structured look at a Boys State sister program in Missouri. Though the mock government programs, run by the American Legion, remain separated by sex in the state, the...
- 1/19/2024
- by Adrian Horton in Park City, Utah
- The Guardian - Film News
Winner of the U.S. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2020, Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ “Boys State” embodied the best and worst of the eponymous tradition that it captured on camera: An annual leadership program, funded by the American Legion and held in almost all 50 states since the 1930s, in which 1,000 or so hyper-ambitious teenage boys from all walks of life are given a week to form and elect a mock government.
On the one hand, their film offered a semi-realistic microcosm of the American system at work, and an optimistic preview of what Gen Z — at least its most politically engaged young men — might bring to the table as they become old enough to and run for office. On the other hand, the otherwise inclusive “Boys State” reinforced the American Legion’s history of preserving the status quo through a “separate but not so equal” approach...
On the one hand, their film offered a semi-realistic microcosm of the American system at work, and an optimistic preview of what Gen Z — at least its most politically engaged young men — might bring to the table as they become old enough to and run for office. On the other hand, the otherwise inclusive “Boys State” reinforced the American Legion’s history of preserving the status quo through a “separate but not so equal” approach...
- 1/19/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Filmmaking team Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine follow-up their 2020 documentary Boys State, naturally, with Girls State, making its Sundance debut in the festival’s Premieres category. Much like their previous film, Girls State follows a diverse group of teenage girls across the state of Missouri who engage in a week-long immersive project that requires them to collectively construct a government from the ground up, which this time includes building a judicial branch on both local and state levels. With the project unfolding as Roe v. Wade threatens to be overturned, the girls also ruminate on how real-world legislature could infringe […]
The post “Crafting Stories With My Head and My Heart”: Editor Amy Foote on Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Crafting Stories With My Head and My Heart”: Editor Amy Foote on Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/18/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Filmmaking team Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine follow-up their 2020 documentary Boys State, naturally, with Girls State, making its Sundance debut in the festival’s Premieres category. Much like their previous film, Girls State follows a diverse group of teenage girls across the state of Missouri who engage in a week-long immersive project that requires them to collectively construct a government from the ground up, which this time includes building a judicial branch on both local and state levels. With the project unfolding as Roe v. Wade threatens to be overturned, the girls also ruminate on how real-world legislature could infringe […]
The post “Crafting Stories With My Head and My Heart”: Editor Amy Foote on Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Crafting Stories With My Head and My Heart”: Editor Amy Foote on Girls State first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/18/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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