TxMike I found this documentary on Netflix streaming. It obviously was filmed almost 5 years ago but it is hard to find out what happened subsequent.It was conceived by Ashley Arbaugh, herself a former model from a young age, I believe 18. She says she has been in and around the business for 15 years, so she was in her early 30s when this film was made. She has gone from modeling to being a scout, seemingly specializing in girls from remote regions of Russia. Arbaugh hates the business but she has to make a living and she knows this business.The deception starts when she is making presentations to young girls, typically 11 to 15, and their parents. These are honest, hard- working but poor families, they want opportunities for their children and also could use the money for issues at home, like renovating the home to make a couple more bedrooms. Arbaugh plainly tells them they will get the equivalent of $8000 US plus at least 3 jobs that will pay them and, "unlike other agencies the girls will not get in debt to the agency."As the story unfolds we see that is clearly all a big lie. The girls, sent to Japan, go on shoots but are told they didn't get the job, yet some time later the girls find their photos in fashion magazines. Their contract specifies if they grow only 1 cm (less than 1/2 inch) in any of their three measurements, bust, waist, or hips, they will be sent home. One girl actually uses this as a way to get home early after she becomes disillusioned. Both girls we see go home (a different times) with debts to the agency of about $2000 US.The documentary features 13-yr Russian girl Nadya Vall, chosen simply because she was being evaluated when the filming started. She is a sweet kid, tall and skinny, from a nice family but thrown into something she had zero preparation for. She copes best she can but gets very lonesome for home. It is hard to imagine how she was able to deal with what was thrown at her, and I found myself wondering what her actual expectations had been as she was getting into this.This is a very worthwhile film simply for showing the seedy underbelly of the unregulated international child model business. Although not covered it is strongly implied that it is common for many of them to resort also to prostitution simply to make enough money to survive. All kids have dreams of some sort, no matter where they are born, it is sad to see how adults manipulate them for their own gain.

Nick Dees This movie gives us an interesting perspective of the modeling industry. Troubling as it may be sometimes the truth needs to be told. Like was mentioned earlier back home the families think that they are going to be well off and get pulled out of poverty but in reality the odds are against them. And the girls are lonely and not any better off after traveling to these modeling gigs. I think most people already know the things that are presented to us in this documentary but I think once we see it on the big screen it a little harder to ignore. Great movie to see for young girls and anybody who it involved in the fashion industry.

eurograd For a while I've had this impression with me that youth modeling, especially the cast of (almost always) girls who are barely out of childhood (mentally and physically), invokes close resemblance to pedophilia. This documentary confirms that impression, following a young teenager girl (Nadya Vall) from a rural village in Russia to a trial at the very bottom feeder market of Japan commercial modeling.It is the antithesis of Top Model or other glamorous portrayal of girls striving to conquer it all. Much on the contrary, Girl Model displays, in a crude form, how young girls are de-humanized, reduced literally to pieces of meat with a very short expiration date, and shuffled across continents and housed (or should I say warehoused) in tight confines while being, all the way, to navigate the unknowns of a country whose language they don't speak, a business they clearly have no idea how it works (which leave them vulnerable), while clearly bearing the insurmountable expectations that their whole families put on them as an escape from a poor life. It is an amount of pressure no 13-year old teenager should ever have to deal it so young in life.The documentary is interesting, as well, in the sense it shows the overall insensitive nature of all people working with these young teens. They rationalize their work in different ways, and they probably worked with hundreds of girls before, so they become just oblivious to the obvious distress, anxiety and fear they have. Ashley Arbaugh, a former model-turned-scout, co-star the documentary. She has been clearly affected by her years on the fashion industry, and is very conflicted about it - on one's hand grateful it helped achieve some financial security, independence and stability; on the other hand very ambivalent to the shallowness of the fashion world and the utter commoditization of models as they are reduced to their bodies and how they fit the aesthetics tastes of the moment. She can relate to the difficult moments of her own career as she signs two young Russian girls for a trail on the industry in Japan.All of that notwithstanding, there are some major flaws with the documentary. Editing is bad, really bad. Even as the stories are compelling, they were merged into a documentary in a way that gives the impression of an unfinished job. I know this is a low-budget production, but this is not about money, but a rough editing job that compromises the viewer experience greatly. P.O.V. shooting might work great, but it does require good editing afterward.They also tried to use the progression of an Ashley's medical issue as a hang to build her own insertion in the documentary, but it clearly didn't work, at least in the form presented.Finally, I think it was a huge mistake not to let some of the people who are featured in the documentary to speak freely a bit, even if in the form of 'confessionals'. It would have greatly expanded the viewer's insight on the brutal work of C-level youth modeling.

Marco Paolo Nuzzi This documentary is raw and without all the niceties of those with a high budget, but it conveys its meaning in a direct and strong way. The way it depicts the fragility and the weakness at the core of this thirteen years old girl, and her friend, feels real. Their humane side is way more beautiful then their looks and it makes you angry to see how this world allows the practice of exploiting, not just poverty and hopes, but also innocence.Kids and teenagers especially, should be protected and guided toward real values until they are able to discern by themselves. We - as in, us adults - should work together toward a better awareness and see the things how they really are, rather then taking them as "someone" would lead us to believe. Let's go beyond looks and materialism to see what really matters. Only then we can help the younger generations.Watch this documentary. Maybe it's worth it or maybe not - for me it surely was - but give it a go.