Teen birth rates in America’s Heartland are among the highest in the nation.

Filmed over two years with intimate verite access, baby/girls follows Olivia, Grace and Ariana as they give birth and attempt to break the cycle of poverty, addiction, and abuse that has marked their own childhoods. With rare proximity and emotional clarity, baby/girls offers a powerful portrait of young women coming of age in a place where choice, faith, and generational traumas collide.

A woman in a long green dress standing by a large tree next to a body of water in a lush, green forest.
Three women, one in a U.S. Army camouflage uniform, embracing each other in a hospital room, showing support and comfort.
A woman with red hair and a young boy with brown hair in a bathroom, both appearing distressed. The woman is in the foreground with her eyes closed and mouth open, while the boy in the background is crying with his hand raised.
A young woman with closed eyes sitting on a floral patterned armchair, holding a crying newborn baby wrapped in a blanket, with a cat perched on her head.
A woman and a young boy are standing on a grassy area under a tree.
A woman with red hair and a young child sitting on a black porch swing with chains, outside a house with light blue siding, surrounded by trees.
A woman in a long green dress standing near a body of water surrounded by trees.
Four women embracing in a hospital room.
A woman laughing with a young boy in a bathtub, reaching out to her. The background shows bathroom toiletries on a shelf and a wall with peeling paint.
A woman with a messy bun holding a crying newborn baby in a living room with red walls and wooden paneling. A cat is perched on her head, close to her hair.
A woman and a young child standing under a tree in a park.
A woman with red hair and a young child sitting on a black porch swing with chains, outside a house with light blue siding, surrounded by trees.

Meet Our Team

Alyse Walsh

Alyse Walsh is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work spans multiple continents and genres. Recently she was a Director and Executive Producer of the Emmy-winning Season 2 of “HOME,” an Apple Original Documentary Series produced with A24. She directed several episodes of the Emmy-nominated Netflix science series “Connected.” Alyse was the Supervising Producer of “Diagnosis,” also for Netflix, as well as for “Defying Gravity,” a PGA award-winning YouTube Original series about women’s gymnastics.

Director

Jackie Jesko

Jackie Jesko is a director and journalist who seeks out stories about complicated people, places, and societies. Her most recent credits include BARBARA WALTERS TELL ME EVERYTHING (Hulu, Tribeca Premiere 2025) and “Savior Complex” (HBO, 2023). Jackie’s work has been honored with several awards including a DuPont, an Emmy, and the James Foley Medal for Courage in Journalism. She is also a co-founder of Latchkey Films.

Director

Kelly Rohrbach Walton is a producer and philanthropist dedicated to advancing opportunities for young women and mothers, with a focus on the systems that shape their lives. In 2023, she founded Maybe? Productions to bring together her community-based work and the transformative power of storytelling. The company’s inaugural project, baby/girls—a documentary she produced—centers on the lived experiences of teen mothers in the heartland of America. Kelly is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Producer

Kelly Rohrbach Walton

Melissa Leardi

Producer

Melissa Leardi is a documentary film and series producer with work on Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, MGM+, and Apple TV. Her previous work includes the feature documentary BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH: TERRI SCHIAVO’S STORY (Hulu, 2023), Peabody and NAACP Image award winning “High on the Hog” Season 1 (Netflix, 2021), NAACP Image Award winner “By Whatever Means Necessary” (MGM+, 2020), and “The Innocence Files” (Netflix, 2020).

Alex Waterfield

Producer

Alex Waterfield is an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award–winning filmmaker and co-founder of Latchkey Films, a Brooklyn-based production company that makes premium, access-driven films that unpack complicated worlds through unforgettable characters. A former executive producer at VICE, Vox, and CNN, Alex has also directed documentaries and series for Hulu, ABC News, and National Geographic.

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

Documentary Spotlight

March 12-18, 2026

Directors: Alyse Walsh, Jackie Jesko, Producers: Melissa Leardi, Alex Waterfield


Set in Arkansas, baby/girls follows three teens living in a maternity home as they navigate pregnancy and early motherhood. The film offers an intimate, unfiltered look at girlhood and motherhood colliding in the American South. Featuring Grace Dulaney, Ariana Green, Olivia Malott, Audra Dulaney, Brian Rivera, Paula Woods (World Premiere)

Check The Lineup

April 18-26, 2026

June 11-14, 2026