Perhaps that old elementary school adage "girls rule, boys drool" takes things a little too far, but it's sort of the same idea. Girls rule.

The University of Hawai'i's Outreach College, the division of the university that provides year-round classes for both traditional and nontraditional students, celebrates Women's History Month with a mini film fest dedicated to children's films that are all about girls.

The film series, dubbed ever so text-message-savvily as "GRLS r GR8!" in a nod to the modern girl (OMG, that's like, so kewl!), takes place the first two Sundays of March and April. It kicks off with a couple of flicks for the young ones before taking it to the tweens and teens to finish out the four-installment series on April 16.

The "GRLS r GR8!" mini fest is a precursor to the Outreach College's bigger annual summer family film event, the Kids First! Film Festival that made its debut last summer. This year's summertime fest is scheduled for June 8 through July 20.

The smaller festival, like its bigger counterpart, is a Kids First! event. Kids First! is a national film project of the Coalition for Quality Children's Media that allows community organizations and schools that wish to hold public film screenings to choose from films that have been screened and approved for young audiences. The films are guaranteed to be free of gratuitous violence, free of race, gender and religious bias and free of inappropriate content.

Festival director Ann Brandman took a chance with last year's inaugural Kids First! Film Festival, hoping she had stumbled upon an event that would draw UH students and their families, as well as community members, to the campus during the summer months when on-campus activity slows down and parents are looking for ways to keep their vacationing kids occupied.

She discovered the Kids First! program, and drawing from her years of experience working as the film curator for the Honolulu Academy of Arts and The Contemporary Museum, she built a film festival that ended up drawing more than 1,300 viewers from around the island.

This year, motivated by last year's success and her own convictions about honoring the importance of women and girls, Brandman planned to supplement the main event with a themed event, something she hopes to do more of by offering mini film fests throughout the year that focus on specific themes such as the environment and children with disabilities.

And it's never too early to start instilling the little ladies with a healthy dose of girl power.

"As I was doing research for the summer festival, I began to come across stories by and about girls, and I wanted other girls to be exposed to those. I want our kids to view film as a tool for social change," said Brandman, who added that as a film curator, she always made a point to mark Women's History Month with a film tribute to the accomplishments of women.

"A lot of times you don't even see girls in strong lead roles, so this is a chance for our girls to see that. And this is a very momentous time for women, with a woman running for president. It's a good time to be a girl."

The films, though educational, wholesome and jam-packed with family values, are also entertaining and fun — a reminder that Disney-generated fare isn't the only thing out there for the PG set.

What better way to start a festival called "GRLS r GR8!" than with the long-lasting icons of girl greatness, Madeleine and Eloise? The two rascally characters have been a femme force to be reckoned with since making their pop culture debuts in the 1930s and 1950s, respectively.

For further proof that troublemaking isn't just for the boys, "The Adventures of Ociee Nash," a classic story of a girl being raised by a single father who sends her away to learn how to be a lady from a prim-and-proper relative, is an old-fashioned tale of spirit and endurance in the vein of "Ann of Green Gables." Based on Milam McGraw Propst's award-winning book, "A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street," the film is intended for young audiences ages 5 to 8.

For older viewers, the coming-of-age comedy "Her Best Move" is about a young girl juggling the almost-all-grown-up responsibilities of tweenage life — sports, school and boys — while becoming the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. National Soccer Team.

Eat your heart out, Hannah Montana.

The festival also includes a series of short films, anchored by the 27-minute "Adina's Deck," that addresses — though cleverly and with humor — the issue of cyberbullying. When a popular 8th-grader starts to get threatening e-mails, text messages and voicemails, she turns to her mystery-solving classmate for assistance in nailing the techie assailant.

The short film program also includes a nod to Rosa Parks, a T-shirt-versus-dress battle between a mom and her tomboy daughter, a geeky 14-year-old determined to transform herself into a beauty queen and a documentary about girls from around the world who've changed their lives by getting an education.

The "GRLS r GR8!" Film Festival is open to everyone (even boys ... eeewww!) and admission to the films is free.