In the first of its programming announcements from the 2024 film slate, True/False Film Fest is thrilled to share the fourth annual Show Me True/False title, Girls State, which recently held its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. After its remaining Sundance screenings, the film’s next stop will be at the 21st annual True/False. Directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss have crafted a compelling follow-up to T/F 2020 audience-favorite Boys State, this time turning focus to the girl’s program.
Girls State takes place in our home state of Missouri, diving inside the American Legion’s annual program where high school girls from across the state, and across the political and socioeconomic spectrum, spend a week building a government from the ground up. The girls run for governor, elect a Supreme Court, and debate contemporary political issues. However, for the first time in history, Boys State and 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.
Show Me True/False began in 2021, created as a way to honor our Community Partners, and offer community members who have not joined us in the past the opportunity to get acquainted with the Fest. The program’s title is a nod to both our long-established proclivity as Missourians to approach new things with a hint of skepticism (until we see it for ourselves, of course), as well as a challenge to show our community all the possibilities shared experiences with film can hold. This year’s selection, Girls State, offers robust conversation about coming-of-age, democracy, and gender parity.
In the same spirit as the collaborative year-round Show Me series at Ragtag Cinema, Show Me True/False creates space at the Fest for post-film community conversations that transport audiences beyond content to interrogate form and intention, evolving our film-centric space into one that embraces our communities. Following the Saturday, March 2 screening of Girls State, the Fest will hold an extended, in person Q&A at Jesse Auditorium at the University of Missouri with the film’s co-directors. Tickets to that screening will be available to the public for a reduced $5 in order to increase accessibility to the Fest for those who are not otherwise able to attend.