‘You Are Beautiful’: Young girls create moving short film about eating disorders

It started out as a middle-school project. It became an award-winning film.

The assignment: create a public service announcement on any subject.

Denver-area Grade 7 students Cameron Dreyer and Olivia Maloney, first-time filmmakers, wrote and directed "You Are Beautiful," a short (and mostly silent) film that tells the story of Abbey, a young girl with an eating disorder.

"We made this film because we love filmmaking, and we wanted to get the message out about eating disorders," Dreyer, 13, tells 9 News. "It is a very sad problem in society today that shouldn't even be an issue."

Half a million American teenagers, boys and girls, have eating disorders. Most don't receive the treatment they need.

In Canada, eating disorders are on the rise, CTV News reports. According to a 2002 survey, 1.5 per cent of Canadian women aged 15 to 24 had an eating disorder.

"We hope teens see our film and are more aware of the dangerous and devastating effects of an eating disorder," Dreyer says.

Dreyer and Maloney's poignant short film came in first place in the middle school category at the My Hero International Film Festival in November, and won "Best Student Film" at the 2013 Colorful Colorado Film Festival.

When the girls' teacher, Dan Marcus, first saw the film's storyboards, tears welled in his eyes.

"It took me back to when my own daughter, Mindy, was suffering from an eating disorder," he tells TODAY.

"When you see Abbey looking sideways into the mirror, I remember seeing Mindy doing that and say, you know, 'I'm too fat.'"

Marcus' daughter Mindy got the help she needed and is now a dance instructor, teaching her young students to appreciate and feel good about their bodies.

When the film was shown at the girls' school, it immediately struck a chord with students and their parents. They started coming forward with their own experiences with eating disorders.

"The film helps everyone to be able to say here's what it looks like, here's what it sounds like, here's what it feels like. and then to create a conversation around it," says Aspen Academy president Kristina Scala.

The film is now going viral.

"These days a lot of video goes viral, and clips often involve flashy stunts or effects. This PSA is very simple. Maybe overly simplistic, in a way. But its quiet focus — and the fact that you're actually seeing things through the eyes of young girls — gives it power," writes Jezebel's Dodai Stewart.

The filmmaking duo are already working on their next project.

"I feel like I'm really helping the world just become a better place," says Maloney. "I never thought that I could make this much difference. so it's really amazing."