Now the Daughters Lead the Slaughter

Amelia is eight years old and immersed in a world of her own creation. Her dog is at the center of this world, so Amelia’s writing a fourteen-song cycle about the wonder and majesty of her beloved Pippi. With a hundred other girls at the week-long Girls Rock! Camp, Amelia learns to write songs, make zines and be part of a working band from mentors like Carrie Brownstein. And at the end of the week, Amelia sings a haunting and beautiful song that ends with the line, “We’re gonna destroy our destination . . . a.k.a. your world!” as she tears out a wild feedback and guts riff. Arne Johnson and Shane King’s documentary Girls Rock! isn’t just a film about girls learning to make their own bands. It’s about how difficult it is to be a girl in a rock & roll-driven, sex-fantasy world — and how girls can turn that weapon back on itself and use music to make their own worlds long after they pass the age of eight. Girls Rock! screens at 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday (April 18 through 20), and again Tuesday and Thursday (April 22 and 24) at the Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood Avenue; 314-968-7487 or www.webster.edu/filmseries). Tickets are $5 to $6.
April 18-20; Tue., April 22; Thu., April 24, 2008