Misstropolis

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Shoot Like a Girl

by Robin Hauck

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Just when I thought I adored Rachel Perry Welty - the artist whose work has inspired the Misstropolis Arts section since the early days - as much as possible, she’s done it again. She introduced me to her friend and fellow artist, documentarian Jenny Mackenzie.

Jenny and Rachel are in the same New England town this summer, doing research for upcoming projects. Something told Rachel that Jenny’s new film Kick Like a Girl, playing at the The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival Summer Film Series on August 20, would appeal to me and to Misstropolites. She was right.

“I think telling girls stories and working in the area of girl empowerment and girl power if you will, is a TOTAL calling for me,” says Mackenzie. “I do believe in the Alpha Girl theory and I am definitely raising a few of them. However, I am constantly reminded, and they are too, of the ways that women are continuously marginalized each and everyday.”

Mackenzie, who lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and three daughters, was a clinical and administrative social worker for 20 years. At 42 she decided to make a daring career change and start film school. Her goal is to use film to tell human interest stories to affect social change - kicking butt like a girl behind the camera.

“As a social worker, most of the time I felt quite effective, in terms of being able to support individuals… Everyone wants to be heard. But there were definitely instances when I would hear someone’s raw, real-life nightmare, and think to myself, “Will we ever be able to create the necessary social change for this domestic violence victim or this pregnant teen”? I would often listen to former clients’ stories and think “if we could just film this story and reach a wider audience, we could potentially really look at longer term change for so many.”

Kick Like a Girl is the story of The Mighty Cheetahs, an undefeated all-girls third grade soccer team so good they were invited to play in the boys’ division. Shortly into the beginning of the season, Mackenzie realized she was in the middle of what could be a powerful documentary. Showcasing her talent even so early in her career as a filmmaker, the resulting film “reveals the reality of the boy-girl issues and what kick like a girl means on and off the playing field.”

Mackenzie’s website notes that “allowing girls to reach their potential requires us to challenge sex role expectations.” Kick Like a Girl does that in a poignant, accessible way. Part of the reason Mackenzie could tell the story with such heart is that she was a part of it, a central character in her own film.

“I was coaching the team, and I was in film school. My mother is a writer and she was visiting from NYC. She came to the second game we played in the boys division, and she felt the tension and heard some of the sideline comments. She said ‘Jenny, you MUST start filming these games, you have a great story right in front of you’, and we did.”

Jenny’s daughter, 8 year old Lizzie, and her teammates are as compelling and inspirational to watch as any young Hollywood starlets. Their determination and desire to win, no matter how tough the odds, is matched only by their remarkable ability to keep things in perspective. While some of the parents’ hollering on the sidelines is sadly revealing of deep gender prejudices and narrow-mindedness, the kids’ behavior (both girls and boys) only seems to increase in its wisdom and maturity.

The film shows how effective sports can be as a teaching tool for kids and as an instrument of social change for adults. A psychologist who adds commentary in the film explains, “What soccer can do for a child is put them in the driver’s seat of their own life. And as [they] go through the experience [they’ll] have both failures and successes and learn that failures are not fatal…”

Zach was one of the boys who played against the Cheetahs. His mother had a distinctly different attitude than some of the fathers of boy players. “There’s no doubt that these boys walk away feeling a completely different way about the girls. That translates into the classroom and that that’s going to translate into the work experience and they’re going to honor women in all different environments that they experience them in.”

“We learned a lot playing the boys and I think the boys learned a lot too.” one of the Cheetahs says happily. Let’s hope the parents on the sidelines leaned something too; and if they didn’t Jenny Mackenzie’s film might be the extra kick they need.

Kick Like a Girl is playing along with Lauren Greenfield’s new film kids + money at the The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival Summer Film Series on Wednesday August 20th at 5:30. For more info, check here.

Interesting fact from the website: there is less than an 11 minutes difference between the male and female world records in the marathon. The women’s is 2:15:25, the men’s is 2:04:26. Check out this site for an interesting graph! http://www.marathonguide.com