{"id":310459,"date":"2026-07-31T04:33:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310459\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T04:33:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:33:28","slug":"cookie-queens-film-stars-record-setting-charlotte-girl-scout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310459\/","title":{"rendered":"Cookie Queens film stars record-setting Charlotte Girl Scout"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Alysa Nahmias began looking for the four Girl Scouts who would anchor her documentary \u201cCookie Queens\u201d<\/a> \u2014 in theaters Friday, Aug. 7 \u2014 she wasn\u2019t searching for the country\u2019s top cookie sellers.<\/p>\n

She was searching for stories.<\/p>\n

The writer-director and her team fanned out across the country, contacting Girl Scout councils, parenting groups and Facebook communities while also relying on old-fashioned word of mouth, all in search of girls whose lives might illuminate the film\u2019s larger themes.<\/p>\n

Eventually, they were led to the Girl Scouts Hornets\u2019 Nest Council<\/a> of Charlotte \u2014 and to Olive Gordon.<\/p>\n

Already something of a local celebrity after setting a state record for cookie sales, Olive found out about the opportunity while in Savannah, touring the birthplace of Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was an easy call for her family.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cCookie \u201cCookie Queens\u201d opens in theaters on Friday, Aug. 7. Courtesy of Roadside Attractions <\/p>\n

\u201cSo we were doing, like, our rite of passage sort of thing,\u201d recalls Olive, then 12, now 14, \u201cand my mom one night gets a call from our council, and she goes, \u2018Hi, there\u2019s a there\u2019s a documentary that\u2019s about Girl Scout cookies that\u2019s interested in talking to you. Are you interested in it?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd our family says yes to everything, so of course we said yes to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

After several Zoom calls, Nahmias flew to Charlotte without cameras, spending a few days simply getting to know Olive and her family.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take the filmmaker long to realize she\u2019d found one of the film\u2019s four central characters.<\/p>\n

Olive was transitioning into middle school. She was beginning to wrestle with what it meant to be known as \u201cthe reigning champ.\u201d She was balancing Girl Scouts with theater, American Sign Language classes and a close friendship with fellow Troop 219 member Celia Kaul (who is also featured prominently in \u201cCookie Queens\u201d). And she had an uncommon ability to say out loud the kinds of complicated feelings many children keep to themselves.<\/p>\n

Says Nahmias, simply: \u201cI thought that was a really relatable, universal story.\u201d<\/p>\n

One scene in particular explains why.<\/p>\n

A surprisingly grown-up conversation<\/p>\n

The scene was shot at her home in the evening. Olive is deep into another cookie season, but as she\u2019s talking with her mom, Carrie Ochal, she seems to be wrestling with wanting to pull back from selling cookies in the future. And with pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it feels like you want me to sell more cookies,\u201d she says on screen. \u201cSometimes it feels like you\u2019re kind of making me sell more cookies. I mean, obviously, it\u2019s \u2014 I guess \u2014 ultimately my choice, but sometimes it feels like if I don\u2019t do it, I\u2019m going to let you down because of some of the things you say and the ways you act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their chat gets even more thoughtful and poignant from there, until Mom finally asks: \u201cDo you think I\u2019m making you feel that way the most, or do you think you kind of, like, put some of that pressure on yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

Olive looks away for a moment. Then she lightly shakes her head. \u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

No dramatic confrontation. No villain. No easy resolution. Just an early-adolescent girl trying to untangle the pressure she feels from others and the pressure she puts on herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they get to the heart of the story I wanted to share in the film, which was \u2014 again \u2014 not really about Girl Scout cookies,\u201d Nahmias says. \u201c… It\u2019s not just Girl Scouting or scouting. Whether you do piano or sports, if you\u2019re a young person who\u2019s enthusiastic about something, and you\u2019re a parent who has a child who\u2019s ambitious, you\u2019re going to navigate \u2014 all of us do \u2014 around \u2018how much do we challenge our children,\u2019 or \u2018how much do we let them say no, enough is enough?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

But today, two years after that filmed conversation, Olive sounds more at ease with the questions she was asking herself.<\/p>\n

\u2018I recognize that I am very lucky\u2019<\/p>\n

Seeing herself on screen for the first time, Olive admits, she mostly watched for herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re watching a movie that you\u2019re in for the first time, you\u2019re kind of watching to see, like, Where am I? What scenes made the cut?\u201d<\/p>\n

But she says \u201cthen when we saw it again at Sundance<\/a>, I really got to appreciate the film for the beautiful way it was shot and the other girls\u2019 stories. … Like, Okay, I kind of know what to expect now. I can lean back and actually watch the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience responded with a standing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival screening last winter, and Olive says she has since watched \u201cCookie Queens\u201d several more times at other film festivals. At the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival<\/a> in Durham this past April, she and her friend Celia \u2014 with whom she remains active in Girl Scouts \u2014 even led a post-screening Q&A together.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, away from the cameras, Olive has continued to do what first drew Nahmias to her: speaking candidly about complicated feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that in a situation where you feel pressure, the best thing to do is talk it through with someone,\u201d Olive says, reflecting on the pivotal scene with her mom. \u201c… I am so lucky to have two parents who will listen to me and hear me, even if I\u2019m saying something negative about them. I know that not everybody gets that, and I recognize that I am very lucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it doesn\u2019t always have to be a parent. You can talk to a teacher. You can talk to a best friend. … I know that teachers and schools use the term \u2018trusted adult\u2019 a lot, and if you\u2019re a kid and you\u2019re reading this article, then that might sound kind of cringy to you, but that\u2019s really what I found that I needed. So if I don\u2019t feel like I can go to my mom, I know I can go to one of my other troop leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd worst comes to worst, I can always go to Celia. She always has an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 30, 2026 at 5:00 AM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Th\u00e9oden Janes<\/a><\/p>\n

The Charlotte Observer<\/p>\n

Th\u00e9oden Janes has spent nearly 20 years covering entertainment and pop culture for the Observer. He also thrives on telling emotive long-form stories about extraordinary Charlotteans and \u2014 as a veteran of three dozen marathons and two Ironman triathlons \u2014 occasionally writes about endurance and other sports.
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