Very Young Girls

Very Young Girls is an exposé of the commercial sexual exploitation of girls in New York City as they are sold on the streets by pimps and treated as adult criminals by police. The film follows barely adolescent girls in real time, using vérité and intimate interviews with them, documenting their struggles and triumphs as they seek to exit the commercial sex industry. The film also uses startling footage shot by pimps themselves, giving a rare glimpse into how the cycle of exploitation begins for many women.

The film identifies hope for these girls in the organization GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services), a recovery agency founded and run by Rachel Lloyd, herself a survivor of commercial sexual exploitation. GEMS is committed to ending commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of children by changing individual lives, transforming public perception, and revolutionizing the systems and policies that impact commercially sexually exploited youth. Very Young Girls will change the way law enforcement, the media, and society as a whole look at the commercial sexual exploitation, street prostitution, and human trafficking that is happening right in our own backyard.

Television, Online, and DVD Distribution

Netflix—USA (Online and DVD)
July 2009 to Present
Rent the DVD

Showtime Networks—USA/Canada
December 2008 to Present
Upcoming Airdates

Israel Broadcasting Authority—Israel
May 2009

SBS ONE—Australia
October 5, 2009

Film Festivals

Toronto International Film Festival—Toronto, Canada (World Premiere)
September 6–15, 2007

True/False Film Festival—Columbia, Missouri (U.S. Premiere)
February 28–March 2, 2008

Miami International Film Festival—Miami, Florida
February 29–March 9, 2008

Independent Film Festival Boston—Boston, Massachusetts
April 23–29, 2008

Indie Spirit Film Festival—Colorado Springs, Colorado
April 25–27, 2008

Jackson Hole Film Festival—Jackson Hole, Wyoming
June 5–9, 2008