True Story: Columbia's True/False Film Fest hits the half-decade mark

Very Young Girls One need only Google the term "very young girls" to discover the breadth and scale of the global sex trade. From Boston to Bangkok the Internet is teeming with "horny" high schoolers willing to do anything for a price. But what compels these teens and preteens to exploit their bodies? That's the question this riveting documentary sets out to answer. Set in New York City, Very Young Girls follows the lives of a half-dozen girls — ages 13 to 18 — who all share the same job title: prostitute. Most come from broken families. Several are runaways. On the streets they're discovered by an older male who takes them in as his girlfriend. What follows might be termed "Pimping 101." The man informs the girl that she needs to start earning for the "family" and forces her — often violently — into turning tricks. In GEMS, a nonprofit that provides housing and support to sexually exploited girls, the young women find support and a way out of the prostitution racket. Some make it. Others remain addicted to the empty promises and parasitic lure of their pimp. "There's not detox for this," notes a GEMS counselor after watching a 16-year-old girl return to the streets. "There's no methadone."
— Chad Garrison