Girls on the Wall

The hardened girls of an Illinois prison get a chance to tell their stories in a musical based on their lives. To do this, they must reach within themselves and reflect on their life choices. With unprecedented access to the juvenile prison, director Heather Ross traces these young women’s attempts to reclaim their humanity and ultimately their freedom. 

3/14  8:30 (H-D) & 3/21 6:30 (Latchis)

Girls On The Wall 2009
Heather Ross  

61 Min   Usa    Doc    **filmmaker Present

Girls On The Wall   **filmmaker
6:30 Latchis Theater  |   March 21 Sunday

PDF Press Kit (Click here)

Sincerely Films and ITVS Present
Contact:
Heather Ross
Sincerely Films
(310) 266-3987
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

GIRLS ON THE WALL
Filmmakers & Crew
Director & Producer Heather Ross
Supervising Editor Julie Janata (Bigger, Faster, Stronger, Mayor of Sunset
Strip)
Consulting Editor Yana Gorskaya (Spellbound, Smart People)
Executive Producers Sally Jo Fifer (My Country, My Country, A Lion In The
House, In The Realms of the Unreal)
Patty Ivins Specht (Reversal of Fortune)
Julie Pizzi (Reversal of Fortune)
Consulting Producer Sarah Jo Marks (Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington
Anymore?, 39 Pounds of Love)
Camera Heather Ross
Dana Kupper (Election Day, Out of Faith, Stevie)
Sound Recording Gwendolyn Zabicki
Graphics and Titles Nuncle (Manda Bala, Che, The Wackness)
Composer Woody Pak (Planet B-Boy, American Zombie)
Production Advisors Gail Silva (Prodigal Sons, Girl Trouble)
Helen Hood Scheer (Jump!, Two Days In October)

GIRLS ON THE WALL
Selected Festivals, Awards, and Notices
Official Selection, Chicago International Film Festival 2009
Official Selection, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2009
Official Selection, CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival 2009
Official Selection, Sheffield Doc Fest Videotheque 2009
ITVS (Independent Television Service) &
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Awarded major funding & public television broadcast
Will air on PBS stations in early 2009
Women in Film Foundation
2008 Grant Recipient
Pacific Pioneer Fund
Awarded maximum grant, 2008
Official Selection, IFP Independent Film Week, NYC
(Formerly IFP Market)
Featured Doc Work-in-Progress, 2007

GIRLS ON THE WALL
Synopsis
The teenage girls of Warrenville Prison are not your average delinquents. Having
"graduated" from juvie to prison, these are the kids most likely to remain in the
correctional system their whole lives. They are also some of the sharpest and most
irrepressible young women you'll meet. When the girls of this heartland Illinois prison
are given a most unlikely shot at redemption— the chance to tell their own stories in
a musical based on their lives— they're challenged to re-live the events that led up
to their crimes, reclaim their humanity, and find their own exuberant voices in a first
step toward breaking free from the prison system.
Meet WHITNEY (17)—the eyes and ears of Warrenville, and our unexpected heroine.
Intimidating, self-isolating, and one of Warrenville's longest-term inmates, Whitney is
infamous for a crime she won't talk about. Despite herself, she soon emerges as one
of the most powerful storytellers in the group. Her writing introduces us to her
charming, drug-addled father, a man whose mistakes paved the way to his
daughter's heinous crime. As the performance approaches, Whitney's growing voice
may lead both of them to confront the past and try to move forward.
ROSA (17) is a hot-tempered girl who taunts guards and inmates alike. Released
from Warrenville, she returns weeks later after getting nearly killed in a knife fight.
With a constant reminder of her temper carved into her throat, she is forced to
grapple with the sexual abuse that is the source of her anger.
CHRISTINA (18) is a friendly, popular girl whose only crime is running away. Drawn
into street life by her mother's crack habit, she's spent most of her life in jails and
foster placements. When she gets a chance for adoption by a wealthy Christian
family, she jumps at it-- but can't reconcile her new upper-middle class life with her
loyalty to her mother’s world.
When the girls hit the stage in front of their families, prison staff and utter strangers,
hitting the notes isn't important: it’s their chance to seize their stories and tell them
to the world. For some, the musical will be a first step in a back-and-forth struggle to
stay out of the system. For Whitney, it may be a lifesaver.
Given unprecedented access to this juvenile correctional facility by the State of
Illinois, the powerful characters of GIRLS ON THE WALL will surprise you with their
candor, intimacy, and unexpected sense of humor. Together, they illustrate the
power of story to illuminate the darkest secrets, and to understand the most tangled
lives.

GIRLS ON THE WALL
Production Notes
When filmmaker Heather Ross set out to make GIRLS ON THE WALL, she knew that
her subjects—young inmates, some of whom had been in and out of jail for many of
their young years—would demand more from her than an occasional drop-in
interview. The trust and intimacy she would need to tell the girls’ stories would
require time and effort. With this in mind, Heather relocated to Chicago for the nine
months it took to shoot the film. It was time well spent. As she became a fixture in the
correctional facility, girls sought her out to tell their stories, stories they couldn’t
even tell their families or their prison-appointed therapists. There was also a fair
amount of incredulity about her ubiquitous presence— “You know YOU’RE not
locked up here, right?!”
Getting clearance to come visit the prison was an effort, let alone convincing the
State of Illinois to suspend their rules regarding revealing the names and faces of
underage perpetrators. In the end, the warden and staff of Warrenville knew the
Fabulous Females program was doing the facility and its wards a great deal of good,
and they went to bat for the film. The result is unprecedented access to juvenile
offenders and this particular unique correctional facility.
Heather originally followed six girls who were slated to be locked up for the duration
of the shoot. However, she quickly grew intrigued by some of the shorter-term girls,
and two of them, Rosa and Christina, ended up becoming main characters in the
film. To find her three key subjects, Heather interviewed and worked with over a
dozen girls and shot almost 300 hours of footage.
During the long and intense shoot, bonds developed between the small crew and the
girls of Warrenville, and Heather is still in touch with some of the girls who she met
during her time there. She and Whitney, the heroine of GIRLS ON THE WALL, speak
regularly, and Whitney recently boarded a plane for the first time to visit the
filmmaker in Los Angeles.

GIRLS ON THE WALL
Filmmakers Bios
Heather Ross- Producer & Director
Heather Ross spent much of her childhood tagging along to film classes with her
graduate student mother. After obtaining bachelor's degrees in Film/Video and
Psychology at UC Santa Cruz, she produced segments on all 7 continents as
associate producer of the feature documentary, Naked World (HBO). On Mean Girls,
(Discovery Health), she worked with a diverse group of girls, from cheerleaders to
cholas, whose stories illustrate a hidden culture of girls’ aggression. She has gone
on to direct and produce programs for Discovery Channel, A & E, MTV, FX and Fox
including the acclaimed series Intervention. GIRLS ON THE WALL is her first feature.
Julie Janata- Supervising Editor
Julie Janata is an award-winning editor and producer. Her editing credits include the
award-winning documentaries MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP and BIGGER, STRONGER,
FASTER, as well as narrative work such as the Emmy-nominated SOLDIER'S
SWEETHEART. Julie executive produced the documentary FLOCK OF DODOS,
which was invited to screen for the U.S. House of Representatives. She is currently in
pre-production on a project which will mark her directorial debut.
Sarah Jo Marks- Consulting Producer
Sarah Jo Marks is a Southern California native who works as a producer's rep and is
presently representing several documentary films. In addition she freelances as a
producer, film festival programmer and film distribution consultant. Previously she
worked at the International Documentary Association where she programmed the
worldwide organizations largest events including the DOCtober Film Festival (now
DocuWeek) and the IDA Awards. She has also worked as Senior VP of Acquisitions
and Development for Seventh Art Releasing where she was instrumental in the
acquisition of several documentaries. Ms. Marks is the founder of At Risk Films, a film
sales company that blends distribution with representation to find documentaries the
biggest possible audience.

GIRLS ON THE WALL
Filmmakers Bios Cont’d
Yana Gorskaya- Editorial Consultant
Born in Russia and raised in Oregon, Yana is a seasoned editor of both documentary
and narrative features. Her first feature documentary, SPELLBOUND, was nominated
for an Academy Award. Since then she has gone on to edit such films as ROCKET
SCIENCE and SMART PEOPLE. She is currently editing Spellbound filmmaker Jeff
Blitz’s new film.
Patty Ivins-Specht and Julie Pizzi
Executive Producers
Patty Ivins and Julie Pizzi have been working in nonfiction television for over ten years
and together have produced over one hundred hours of television. Under the PB&J
banner, Ivins and Pizzi have executive produced the Showtime documentary Reversal
of Fortune, NBC’s “Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Model Search,” and “L.A. Riding
Club” for TLC. Prior to founding PB&J, Ms. Ivins produced and/or directed numerous
documentaries including Mean Girls, The Mother Road, and episodes of A&E’s
Biography. She won an Emmy in 2003 for AMC’s Hollywood Rocks The Movies: The
1970s with David Bowie.