''Troop 1500'' is a
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
which won two Gracie Awards from the American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT) in the Individual Achievement Award for Outstanding Director and Outstanding Documentary. The nationally broadcast film (PBS) follows a unique
Girl Scouts of the USA troop which unites mothers and daughters monthly behind the bars at the
Hilltop Unit, a prison of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...
, in
Gatesville, Texas
Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,135 at the 2020 census. The city has five of the nine prisons and state jails for women operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. ...
. All of the mothers have been convicted of serious crimes and are serving long sentences.
The troop's activities are centered on rebuilding the tenuous relationships, and addition to arts and crafts and learning life skills, the mothers and daughters bond by asking and answering tough questions of each other.
For more than five years, filmmaker
Ellen Spiro
Ellen Spiro is an American documentary filmmaker. She was a producer and director of a television documentary '' Are the kids alright?'', which won an Emmy Award in 2005.
She is a professor emerita of the University of Texas at Austin, where ...
worked with the leaders and girls of Troop 1500, the "prison troop," as a volunteer and mentor. She spent the first year with the troop training the girls in cinematography, sound and editing, and then she began making ''Troop 1500'' in which the girls occupy front and center of the film, as subjects as well as crew.
Awards
*American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT) 32nd annual Gracie Award
*Individual Achievement Award for Outstanding Director
*Outstanding Documentary (long format division)
*Commendation from the
Texas State Legislature
The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...
(Senate Resolution 545)
Articles
Austin, Liz.
Film Documents Scout Troop's Efforts to Break Cycle of Crime. Amarillo Globe News. 2006-3-18. Retrieved on 2007-6-24.
Evans, Kate.
2006-4-20. Retrieved on 2007-6-24.
Geisler, Erin
The University of Texas at Austin, Office of Public Affairs. 2005-3-14. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
Grant, Darlene. (2006). Resilience of girls with incarcerated mothers: The impact of Girl Scouts. The Prevention Researcher, 13(2), 11-14.
Guiding Kids Through Troop 1500. Official Website of the Girls Scouts of the USA. 2006 newsletter. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
Hill, Alison Michelle.
Troop 1500: The Real Deal on a Reality Movie. Studio 2B: The Place for Teens. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
Holt, Cody
Job: Video Reunion. DigitalContentProducer.com. 2006-6-1. Retrieved on 2007-6-24.
Karnasiewicz, Sarah.
Salon.com. 2006-3-21. Retrieved on 2007-6-18.
Kasten, Susan
Beloit College Magazine. Summer 2006. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
Neff, Nancy.
The University of Texas at Austin Online Features. 2006-1-23. Retrieved on 2007-6-22.
S., Brianna.
Finding and Filming Your Passions: An Interview with Filmmaker Ellen Spiro, Part I. Studio 2B: The Place for Teens. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
S., Brianna.
and Filming Your Passions: An Interview with Filmmaker Ellen Spiro, Part II.Studio 2B: The Place for Teens. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
Scheib, Ronnie.
Variety. 2005-3-15. Retrieved on 2007-6-17.
Swan, Marion.
Troop 1500 Documentary on Texas Girl Scout Council Premieres at South By Southwest Film Festival. Official Website of the Girls Scouts of the USA. 2005-3-3. Retrieved 2007-6-22.
Swan, Marion.
Emmy Award-Winning PBS Series Independent Lens to Host Broadcast Premiere of 'Troop 1500'.Official Website of the Girls Scouts of the USA. 2006-3-9. Retrieved on 2007-6-24.
See also
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External links
Troop 1500at the
Internet Movie Database
IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
Troop 1500Official Website
Troop 1500at
Independent Lens
''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence H ...
''Troop 1500 Girl Scouts Beyond Bars''at
Women Make Movies
Women Make Movies is a non-profit feminist media arts organization based in New York City. Founded by Ariel Dougherty and Sheila Paige with Dolores Bargowski, WMM was first a feminist production collective that emerged from city-wide Women's Li ...
*Taylor Zelman, Shawn.
American Women in Radio & Television Announces 32nd Annual Gracie Award Winners. American Women in Radio & Television official website. 2007-2-27. Retrieved on 2007-6-25.
*Texas State Legislature
Girl Scouts of the USA
Scouting in popular culture
Documentary films about incarceration in the United States
Films directed by Ellen Spiro
2005 films
2005 documentary films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films