Girls Rock

The primary subjects of “Girls Rock!” are Laura, an articulate adopted Korean girl from Oklahoma obsessed with death metal; Misty, who is emerging from a life of meth-addiction, homelessness and gang activity; Palace, a sweet-seeming 8-year-old with a heavy metal sneer and “rawk” heart, and Amelia, another 8-year-old, who’s writing a 14 song cycle about her Chihuahua Pippi and loves “crazy noise music.” Forming bands, writing songs and playing a gig in one week, these girls and the rest of the campers engage in an experiment meant to change their perception of themselves and each other. In meeting these four children, the filmmakers discovered what many books and studies have already described-girls are struggling with a bewildering and heartbreaking array of challenges to their self-image. Everything from eating disorders to drugs to sexual harassment have made girlhood a virtual battlefield. The filmmakers were happy to find in the camp a place where, in the words of former Camp Assistant Director Jen Agosta, “it is 100% ok to be exactly who you are.” What happens to the girls as they are given a temporary reprieve from being sexualized, analyzed and pressured to conform, is truly exhilarating. The act of picking up a guitar and making noise becomes a truly revolutionary act.