KJK: What did you discover about the girls that you didn’t know before?
AJ: I was pretty shocked at how a lot of the issues of self-esteem and body image and stuff cut across all kinds of girls—different races, classes, ages. It was demoralizing at times to really understand that most girls tackle these things at some point, but also pretty inspiring how they took on the task of shedding those insecurities with such joy and passion.
KJK: What was the biggest challenge for you in making this film?
AJ: Trying to minimize as much as possible our impact on the girls at camp. That week is pretty important for a lot of the girls, and we didn’t want to inhibit that. We thought a lot about minimizing our impact. We were very careful to keep an eye on how our presence was affecting the people in the room and if we noticed anyone either cringing at the presence of the camera or playing to the camera we would leave the room. We also let the girls and staff know that they could ask us to stop shooting whenever they wanted and we would respect that. There were also certain situations where either we or members of the camp thought it was best not to have men around, so we were working with two women filmmakers for the week of the camp and they would shoot those scenes. We also got to know a lot of the girls before camp, met their parents, and interviewed their friends and stuff. They were pretty comfortable with these two dorky guys by the time we got there and I think other girls took their cues from the casual attitude they had toward us.
KJK: Are most of the girls continuing with music post-camp?
AJ: I don’t really know what the percentages are of who’s seriously pursuing music and/or forming bands. But of the girls we focused on, Palace is now seriously playing drums, Amelia formed a band that is still together with her best friend, Laura continues to learn bass and write songs but still has trouble finding bands to work with, and Misty hasn’t stuck with music. But the impact the camp had on them in other areas has lingered even more strongly than music, which is cool, because that’s the camp’s intent!
Co-directors Arne Johnson and Shane King; photo courtesy of Girls Rock!
