Women and Girls Lead Presents an Online Social Screening of Troop 1500

Posted on March 20, 2012

Join us for an online social screening of Troop 1500 this Wednesday, March 21, at 1pm PT/4pm ET.



The event, which takes place exclusively online, will feature special guests Robin Hewes, Program Director of the Beyond Bars Girl Scouts Program in Austin, TX (where Troop 1500 is based), Karen Berstein, co-producer of the film, and one of the young women from Troop 1500. Participants can join for free by signing in with Facebook or directly on the site, interacting with other viewers and panelists in real-time, while watching the film. Viewers can comment, ask questions, take polls, and even express their feelings about what they’re watching through a variety of tools on the site. This is an entirely new way of experiencing documentary films and it is inherently social.

Troop 1500: MARCH 21, 2012, 1pm PT/4pm ET 

Presented in partnership with Girl Scouts of the USA

To participate in this screening, click this link.

Troop 1500 follows five young Girl Scouts — sisters Caitlin and Mikaela, Jasmine, Jessica, and Naomi — whose mothers are serving time. Once inside the prison, the girls of Troop 1500 fall into the arms of the mothers they seldom see — Kenya, Melissa, Ida, and Susan — crying and laughing while pulling out report cards and pictures and passing along hellos from grandparents and absent brothers. 

Troop 1500 goes beyond the girls’ prison experience to show what their daily lives are like: balancing family, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities under the care of dads, friends, and grandparents. And though the girls longingly await the day when their moms are free, their problems don’t always end upon their mothers’ release. The result is a sobering but hopeful look at the struggles faced by the more than 1.5 million American children who have a parent behind bars. This online social screening is part of a month long online film festival presented by Women and Girls Lead, featuring a collection of documentary films by prominent independent filmmakers. These films showcase extraordinary women and girls on the front lines of changing the world. 

To learn more about the Women and Girls Lead initiative, click here.

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