About two weeks ago, high school girls from all over the country arrived in Santa Fe to eat, sleep, and breathe film, video and new media production. They live in dorms, learn from College of Santa Fe faculty and other pros, and use Garson Communications Center equipment.

The two-year-old GirlsFilmSchool, held at CSF, was developed by Deborah Fort to address the dearth of females in the film industry and in film schools. The new chairwoman of the college's film department hoped to put the power of this expressive tool into the hands of those who Hollywood generally addresses clumsily and in stereotype -- if at all.

Last Tuesday, I joined 17 students and 6 mentors for a day at GirlsFilmSchool. At 9am, instructor Wendy Chapin opened our eyes with a round of calisthenics, followed by a racous identity-exploring exercise that had the girls clicking like chickens and squawking like parrots. We then sat in a circle and processed, the teachers and mentors listening carefully to their students' feedback. Chapin introduced ideas such as looking within for validation, working with criticism and questioning resistance. Though many of the girls had met just two days prior, they'd already developed an impressive esprit de corps, a dedication to their craft combined with a chatty teenagerness that seemed utterly wholesome.

The morning continued with a writing class that again emphasized creative process and self-expression. Fort then introduced documentary film, bringing to life a genre that several had deemed "boring" by screening clips from a direct cinema piece on Bob Dylan (You guys DO know who Bob Dylan is, right?") and an incisive documentary about women's body image.

After lunch, we returned for a two-hour sound class. While discussing the basics, Fort showed a clip from Apocalypse Now, illustrating how Coppola used Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" to make his point. Then, steering clear of the technology-for-technology's-sake rap that often runs rampant in boy's film school, she explained basic recording techniques and sent the class out to record. I roamed the campus watching mic-wielding girls capture leaves rustling in the breeze, stones clanking together -- and their own voices.

The girls slowly drizzled back inside for an introductory acting class with Chapin. They'd been assigned to perform an everyday event, such as eating a banana. The point, said Chapin, was one's intention -- acting from the heart that had the power to deeply affect others.

Slated for the evening was a screening and talk with Surviving Columbus filmmaker Diane Reyna. Reyna is one of several guest lecturers who serve as inspiration-role models for women, still vastly underrepresented in Hollywood. For example, in 1997, female membership in the Director's Guild of America represented a mere 12 percent.

The school's retort is an all-woman faculty, plus four CSF upperclasswomen and two GFS alumnae, who provide individualized attention and assist with technical aspects. "This program is really about finding one's personal creative voice and mode of expression, and each girl exploring her own unique way of perceiving the world," Fort says. You'd think that for such bright teenagers self-expression would hardly be a problem. But many studies have proven that once they notice boys, girls tend to squelch their intelligence. "Regardless of how competent young girls are, they will defer to men," Fort said.

Assistant mentor Jasmine Tarasova, 17, believes that females are underrepresented in the film industry "because girls generally try to impress boys." The GFS 2000 alumna says she returned to the program because last year she'd never had so much fun. "When a group of women make something, you can't imagine the energy surrounding it. Everyone is involved in the creative process, and everyone is helping each other out. It's amazing."