With self esteem at the forefront, SMILE PRETTY asks what would-be teenage beauty queens have to gain from competing in pageants, and what these rituals tell us about growing up female.
Premiere: PBS, November 1999
"Engrossing and disturbing...stands out for its quality of empathy."
- The Chicago Tribune
"The girls open up to the camera. It's apparent...how much they all share: the sense of wonderment at the rapid changes in their bodies, and simultaneously, their ambivalence...the socialization rituals... chronic dissatisfaction with their appearance...and amazing levels of endurance."
