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Husband-and-wife documentarians Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss are fascinated by teenagers. On an anthropological level, but also in an emotional sense. Being the parents of two teenage daughters, it makes sense that they\u2019d want to train their lens on other kids of their age to figure out what makes them tick. What\u2019s more intriguing \u2014 and perhaps more daring in this tense world climate \u2014 is that they\u2019d want to do so within the confines of such a staunchly political environment. Focusing on a leadership and citizenship program run by the American Legion in multiple states, \u201cBoys State,\u201d their first film in what has now become a series, was set in Texas and saw what McBaine described to IndieWire\u2019s Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris-Bridson as a testosterone-fueled \u201crunning of the bulls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking after an IndieWire & Apple TV+ screening of her and Moss\u2019 recent installment, \u201cGirls State,\u201d at Vidiots Foundation in L.A.\u2019s Eagle Rock neighborhood, McBaine admitted that she and Moss were worried about repeating themselves. But the world granted them a new, unfortunate angle. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe fear was, \u2018Uh-oh, are we gonna make the same movie?\u2019 We\u2019re still a polarized country. It\u2019s still a really interesting space, these programs where they bring together kids who have different politics, and that\u2019s always gonna be interesting to me,\u201d McBaine said. \u201cSo I thought, well, one about the girls is gonna be extra extra interesting. And of course, with everything that was going on in the Supreme Court, it started to feel like that was gonna be the main topic they were gonna discuss. What we didn\u2019t know was that the Dobbs case [which overturned Roe v. Wade] was gonna leak a week before. I don\u2019t think that had ever happened before, a leak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whereas \u201cBoys State\u201d is more centered around politicking and gamesmanship, \u201cGirls State,\u201d which also switches locations to Missouri, takes on a more cooperative tone. One of the central actions of the program is centered on building a mock Supreme Court that hears, debates, and deliberates on a timely case.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hoping, fingers crossed, fingers crossed, fingers crossed that they were going to hear an abortion case,\u201d admitted McBaine. \u201cAnd that happened thankfully. I think if they didn\u2019t, all of our kids would have exploded because that\u2019s what they wanted to talk about. Again, they\u2019re really smart, it\u2019s a really charged time for these girls, in Missouri in particular where abortion is now not legal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGirls State,\u201d unlike \u201cBoys State,\u201d also puts an emphasis on the separation between genders that these programs enforce and how often the female programs don\u2019t have the same resources their male counterparts are granted. This separation spoke to larger issues around the gender gap and really drew McBaine in as a spectator.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was there because I wanted to see them build the Supreme Court,\u201d McBaine told IndieWire and the crowd at Vidiots. \u201cI wanted to have these girls have a conversation about that issue amongst themselves. If only for a moment. That was really what I was most interested in. I also continue to be interested in whether or not civil discourse is possible. So for those two reasons, I wanted to be there, but it did get interesting to have the boys there. And it\u2019s good for the program too because actually this year they\u2019re more and more merged and they\u2019re sharing a lot of their resources and that doesn\u2019t happen in those states. Texas doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s not concurrent. And so there\u2019s value to having it at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out photos from the IndieWire & Apple TV+ screening of \u201cGirls State\u201d and watch the entire conversation with McBaine and Moss at IndieWire<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Watch the \u2018Girls State\u2019 Co-Director Talk About Her Hope Subjects Would Discuss Roe Being Overturned: \u2018If They Didn\u2019t, They\u2019d Have Exploded\u2019: Husband-and-wife documentarians Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss are fascinated by teenagers. On an anthropological level, but also in an emotional sense. Being the parents of two teenage daughters, it makes sense that they\u2019d want
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