Cookie Queens

Cookie Queens is a feature documentary directed by Alysa Nahmias that follows four Girl Scouts across the United States during a single six-week Girl Scout Cookie selling season — a program that generates approximately $800 million in annual revenue. The film takes a character-driven, intimate approach rather than serving as an industry exposé, centering the personal stories and family dynamics of its four young subjects: Olive (age 12, Charlotte, NC), an ambitious top earner with aggressive sales goals; Nikki (age 9, Chino, CA); Shannon Elizabeth (age 8, El Paso, TX), whose family has pre-committed to selling 2,750 boxes while facing real financial pressures including mortgage strain; and Ara (age 5, San Diego, CA), a diabetic girl who channels her situation creatively by developing sugar-free cookies to sell. The film examines the intersection of childhood innocence and cutthroat entrepreneurial ambition, exploring questions of agency — who benefits financially, what motivates the girls versus their families, and what healthy parenting looks like in a high-pressure competitive context. Female relationships form a central theme: sisterhood among the scouts, mother-daughter bonds, and mentorship between women and girls are all foregrounded. The narrative arc moves through the six-week season, building toward the final tallies, with Olive ultimately emerging as the top seller with over 12,000 boxes sold. The film premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.

Sources: Wikipedia, Letterboxd, Film Festival Today (Sundance review), Mediaversity Reviews