Marlo believes God has told her to win the Miss Teen Indiana Pageant, but that she needs help getting the pity vote. Her older sister Rose is skeptical, but she's been drinking a lot lately, and the word of God is a mystery to her.

Director’s Statement

It’s strange to say that All Beauty Queens Have Broken Bones feels timely. It isn’t political satire. It isn’t about technology. It isn’t explicitly about the ills plaguing society. But the way the everyday is suffused with an ineffable and ethereal confusion in Madeline Cash’s original story felt not only honest but also remarkably prescient. Now more than ever people (particularly in the expanses of America) are searching for meaning and purpose in increasingly desperate forms. Understanding ourselves seems beyond control. In that sense, All Beauty Queens feels like the perfect film about right now. Marlo and Rose are both lost and looking to be found. 

Technical Specs

7 min // Digital // Columbia University // 2024