Meghan Markle Explains Why She and Prince Harry Backed Sundance Documentary ‘Cookie Queens’

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are making the most of their time at the Sundance Film Festival.

After the royal couple made a surprise appearance Saturday night at the Salt Lake City world premiere of the Alysa Nahmias-directed documentary, which they executive produced, they turned up at an early Sunday morning showing of the film at the Eccles Theater in Park City, Utah. They arrived on the red carpet shortly before 8:30 am for a 9 am screening. Prince Harry hung in the doorway while Markle posed for photos with Nahmias, and he joined them moments later as they excitedly greeted the entire Cookie Queens team, including the four young Girl Scouts, the doc’s main subjects as they battle it out to sell the most cookies.

Markle joined Nahmias for select press interviews on the line, and she even had a surprise showing at the podium to help introduce the film. It’s rare if not unprecedented for an executive producer to speak before a filmmaker at Sundance, but officials made the most of having the Duchess in the building. She was welcomed to the stage by director of programming Kim Yutani, who described Cookie Queens as “perhaps the cutest film at the festival,” adding, “this is an earnest portrait of girls and their family of ambition, love, and tenacity, and I don’t want to say too much because before we welcome our director, I want to invite a very special guest on stage.”

Out walked Markle, who offered, “Good morning everybody. Thank you guys so much for being here bright and early. I know some of you probably had late nights last night, so extra thanks for the effort. Nothing that little cookies and coffee can’t help.”

She then gave her take on the film and the four girls featured in it. “Look, my husband and I and our Archewell Productions, we are so proud and privileged to be able to support and uplift Cookie Queens. This film, yes, is probably the cutest at the festival, but I’m also going to go out on a limb and say it is one of the most powerful and meaningful depictions of something that is an American tradition and rooted in nostalgia, but is now put through this lens from the incredible creative vision of Alysa to show something modernized about the girlhood experience and all the layers and complexity that come with that,” she said. “So yes, it’s cute and yes, these young ladies are fantastic and adorable, but they are also layered beautiful girls who are about to become very strong leaders and young women. So thank you for supporting that.”

Markle then thanked her team at Archewell and shouted out the producers for getting the project across the finish line. She and Prince Harry are executive producers alongside Tegan Acton, Hallee Adelman, Trevor Burgess, James Costa, Geralyn Dreyfous, Stephen G. Hall, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Melony Lewis, Adam Lewis, Ann Lewnes, Ann Lovell, Emma Pompetti, Chanel Pysnik and Regina K. Scully. Nahmias produced the film with Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw and Jennifer Sims.

“This film is such a labor of love they have worked on for a couple years, and with all of the hundreds of hours of trusted fly on the wall material that they were able to capture with these families that let them in and allowed them to show and share their lives and their loves, I think the editorial in this that you’ll see is also something pretty outstanding,” Markle continued. “That is all testament to the talent and expertise of the director, Alysa Nahmias, who is here today.”

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with both Markle and Nahmias on the red carpet during a brief interview as Nahmias revealed how she’s feeling about having a world premiere at the festival, which supported her film in its early days — especially during these challenging times. (The film was made independently and is currently looking for a distributor.)

“The film started at Sundance Catalyst, the development financing lab, and the labs have meant so much to me as an artist over the years,” Nahmias told THR. “To premiere here feels, well, first of all, it’s cookie season right now and and then also it feels like coming home, and it feels like coming to a place where there’s so many diverse storytellers. I get so excited to see all of the other films and to really understand how storytelling can help us find unity and in divisive times.”

Markle told THR that she and Prince Harry felt “privileged” being able to board the project as executive producers. “It could have been very easy to just make a sweet story about the girl’s house, and it is sweet, but it is so layered with a human story and a girlhood story. I’m just privileged that they gave me an opportunity and said yes to us and our Archewell Productions to come on. And for the past two years, my enthusiasm for this has finally come to light.”

Nahmias said the four youngsters featured in the film were “super excited” by Markle’s participation as she’s a fellow Girl Scout. Asked what traits she saw in the girls that she recognized in herself, Markle said, “I think there’s so many layers of that. What’s so special about the film is whether you were a Girl Scout or not, there is so much you can connect to and relate to, that is the beauty of how Alysa put this film together to tell a story of family, community, parenting and also just the complexities of girlhood. There are pieces of it that aren’t easy and there are pressures on young girls, and I think all of us can see that. [I recognize it] both from my experience of being a young girl, but also now as a mom. This is very universal.”

The couple’s Archwell Productions has backed other nonfiction projects, most recently Moses Bwayo and David Vieira Lopez’s Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within. Asked what the future holds for her Hollywood ambitions, Markle said THR“Finding more projects like this with creators like this that have really strong points of view, and finding ways that we’re able to support as best we can.”