Again overall, the parents were very happy with the film and the portrayal of their daughters and their lives. The self-reflection involved was profound. The discussions we had with the girls and their families now that they had some distance from the time period was interesting. They recognized the struggles they had and the need to continue communicating with each other.
I do not believe any of the girls want to be filmmakers. They realize how much work it is! Isha wants to perform on stage and Ariana has taken public speaking classes at the local community college. I believe they all realize the importance of clear communication. Perhaps that is a result of the film. They are all excited about participating in the film festivals and talking about the experience of making the film.
JB: Other than the financial (an issue for most doc makers), what was your greatest challenge in making this film?
DV: The biggest challenge was in the editing process. We had hundreds of hours of footage! It was important to us that the story be told from the girls’ point of view, so that rules out a narrator. How could we focus on the details of four different lives in one film, without losing the narrative thread each time we switched characters? There were a million different variations and even though we knew the scenes we wanted to include, whittling that down and finding the right order was a difficult and time-consuming process.
Another huge challenge was staying true to the documentary form while at the same time holding true to our social justice, ethical, and moral responsibilities. The girls and their families faced many struggles and the school system was often difficult to deal with. There were times when Kristy had to hold me back from wanting to intervene on a minor incident so that we could get the shot. We had many discussions about when we absolutely had to step in and help out and when we needed to be “filmmakers.” The balance between the two was delicate. I think that Kristy and I were a great balance to each other. We ultimately were true to our feminist/womanist beliefs that the personal is political and that we are all connected, and thus accountable to each other—that no story is truly “objective.” We worked hard at being true to our vision and creating a story that was girl-centered, from their point of view.
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