Girls Rock! The Trailer

"delivers slew of incandescent moments of rock rebellion in delightful doc'  -Denver Post

Nice Girls Rock! Press

"well worth seeing - noisy, funny, troubling, liberating" -Boston Globe

(Critic's Pick) "Young women find expression for more than their music in 'Girls Rock!' a jubilant documentary about a place where power chords and empowerment go hand in hand....Employing an amiably chaotic visual style that includes crude animation and campy postwar hygiene films, they record the battle to wrestle girl culture from the hands of Paris and Britney with the enthusiasm of true believers."
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

"The act of picking up a guitar and making some noise becomes a life-changing experience in "Girls Rock!," an irresistible new documentary from filmmakers Arne Johnson and Shane King...every girl between the ages of 8 and 18 should be required to check it out."
-Mary Houlihan, Chicago Sun-Times

"In one slender documentary co-directors Shane King and Arne Johnson accomplish what Hollywood routinely bungles: incisively depicting the inner lives of complicated young females."
-Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader

"Credit goes to King and Johnson for catching the girls' most offhand and revealing moments, but even more to the camp counselors, who nudge their charges toward community by encouraging them to be themselves and respect other individuals....The movie, though, has a potency that goes beyond explicit teaching...girls share a spontaneity that's rare even in documentaries; their crazy verve irradiates the screen...Girls Rock! is scrappy, but at its best, it shows you humans blooming with the speed of flowers in time-lapse photography."
-Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun

"Tearjerker and rockumentary are two genres that don't generally go hand in hand. But you'll need a hanky and your Joan Jett lighter when watching "Girls Rock!"...weaving interviews with campers and counselors together with insightful feminist factoids and an amazing femme-rock score, the film paints an inspiring portrait of how camp uses musicianship to help girls bond, build self-esteem and rock out."
- Errin Donahue, Bust Magazine

"I caught Girls Rock! over at the Harvard Exit last night, and it was so much more adorable than I thought possible...The punk fucking rock kids and teens are beyond amazing."
- Annie Wagner, The Stranger

" "Girls Rock!," a documentary that follows preteens and teens at a rock music camp in Portland, Ore., makes an eloquent case for giving girls room to breathe away from the patriarchal scheme of things. The kids in this freewheeling film aren't thinking "female empowerment" as they scream into the mikes, flail like Pete Townshend on their electric guitars or wail on drum sets with unfiltered abandon. But they sure as heck are living it. We can feel their growing confidence in the belief that over-the-top self-expression is not rude, out of place or inappropriate for females.
It's goooood. "

-Desson Thomson, Washington Post

"Through a smart mix of animation and shocking statistics, Girls Rock never shies from the tough realities of growing up a girl in North America today...For the audience, watching a bunch of (often) introverted girls burst out of their proverbial shells with unhinged voices and fists pumping is, well, a rare cinematic treat."
- Meg Hewings, Hour Magazine

"The most cheerfully raucous movie at SIFF could well be this irresistible documentary...There's plenty of mileage to be gotten from the spectacle of cute little girls rocking out (8-year-old Palace, given a microphone, lets loose a scream that could peel paint off a wall, and then sweetly smiles). But "Girls Rock!" goes further, deftly exploring issues of empowerment, popularity, body image, anger and the enemy that is Britney Spears. Bring your daughters."
- Moria Macdonald, Seattle Times

"Theatrical standouts amid the slate of 130 docs are "Girls Rock!" a rousing tale of a rock-'n'-roll camp for girls from Arne Johnson and Shane King"
- Tamsen Tillson, Variety

"Arne Johnson and Shane King's dead-clever doc lets the famous rockers who volunteer their time (Carrie Brownstein, Beth Ditto) fade into the background and focuses on the amazing kids who grow and rock at camp...The film uses an aesthetic borrowed from zines, music videos and campy mental hygiene films, a Kathleen Hanna-heavy soundtrack and tons of sociological data. Most impressive, however, is the fact that they refuse to portray Rock 'n' Roll Camp as idyllic, exposing the flaws – catfights, pariahs – that exist even in a girl-positive space."
- Sarah Liss, Now Magazine

"I don't know if I have ever seen a greater collection of girls in one sitting then I did when I went to see 'Girls Rock!' Even more importantly, I can't remember the last time I saw a film, or television show for that matter, and was inspired and energized by the females on the screen. Surprisingly, this comes from the hands of a couple of men -- Arne Johnson and Shane King. Yet it doesn't really matter, because they understand their subject perfectly."
- Monika Bartyzel, Cinematical