SENECA FALLS
Seneca Falls
•
59m
This funny, moving contemporary documentary follows nine diverse teenage girls (and a lone boy) who travel from San Francisco to the village of Seneca Falls, New York to stage their original play before a national audience. The troupe joins tens of thousands gathered at a weeklong celebration marking the momentous event in human history: the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. That two-day public protest meeting, planned by five women friends over tea and attended by 300 women and men, set out to reverse the utter lack of social, civil, political and religious rights of American women – both "free" and slave. A century and a half later, the teenagers in our film meet powerful women, hear rousing speeches, and discover just how courageous their foremothers were. Their play is a hit, and they become media stars themselves, but are taken aback by a racial incident that challenges their unity and courage. Part teenage road trip, part stunning history lesson, the film is, above all, an awakening of young hearts and minds.