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When actress and first-time filmmaker Ayden Mayeri was a pre-teen and teen growing up in suburban Santa Rosa, California, she had three best friends: Jessica Hall (who she had known since the girls were just four years old), Janet Washburn, and her little sister Mary Washburn. For years, the foursome was inseparable, a creative and bold whirlwind of girlhood that sang, danced, and even filmed their way through their coming-of-age.
The summer that the older girls were eleven and Mary was just 9, their wild imaginations spawned something tangible: an 8-song album they recorded as wannabe girl group X-Cetra, initially designed to reflect their affection for groups like the Spice Girls and NYSNC. The actual product? Uhhh, not so much. Backed by off-kilter acid house beats that Janet and Mary’s mom (Robin O’Brien, a singer who produced the album, then known as “Stardust”) got for free from a pal, the effect was more “haunted children” than “popular radio,” and the girls promptly forgot about the whole thing.
Twenty years later, it became a viral hit when it was, somewhat inexplicably, shared on the internet. That alone is a good story (and one already the stuff of Guardian and Rolling Stone profiles), but for her filmmaking debut, “Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story,” actress Mayeri (“Veep,” “The Afterparty,” “Cora Bora”) interrogates her own unbelievable life story to find something much deeper.
When the album showed up on the community-run database Rate Your Music more than two decades after the girls made it, it grew into a low-key viral sensation, driven by listeners who both liked it and kind of feared it (one review calls it “an oddly avant-garde production, influenced by minimal synth and featuring off-kilter sampling”). When Mayeri, Hall, and the Washburns (Janet, now married, goes by Janet Kariuki) discovered their slow-speed notoriety, an initial rush of “wow, isn’t this insane?!” soon turned into some serious introspection.
Throughout the documentary, which features talking head commentary, copious archival footage (even as kids, Mayeri and Hall adored recording their antics on home video), and new interviews, the X-Cetra gals speak openly and honestly about their friendships and the early years that fostered them. At different points, all four women make mention of feeling “the most me” when they were running wild as youngsters. That’s a theme that Mayeri doesn’t taken lightly, as the film eventually morphs from wacky curiosity to deep reflection.
Loosely plotted around the now-grown members of the group getting back together to re-record some old songs and even cook up some new ones, “Summer 2000” doesn’t shy away from confronting all the not-so-fun stuff that fueled both the original album and their lives during its making. While it might seem as if Mayeri is stumbling into this revelations — ones she is, crucially, both recording and experiencing for herself — that’s part of the doc’s hard-won honesty. Mayeri and her friends might have thought they were simply documenting a wild time in their lives, but what “Summer 2000” turns into is something far richer and weightier.
Why did the girls feel the need to bury their album? Consider their ages when they made it: Mayeri, Hall, and Kariuki were on the cusp of teenage-hood when they first crafted it, and they were becoming all-too-aware of what their teenage lives might bring. As the doc unfolds, Mayeri walks right into the darkest stuff the girls experienced (and which nearly ripped them apart), from drugs and alcohol to abusive relationships and deep tragedy. We learn more about each girl’s upbringing, including a heavy look inside Kariuki and Washburn’s family dynamic, so much of it dominated by their mother (again, the group’s producer!) and her own personal and professional choices.
While the documentary initially seems to be built on something whimsical — can you believe this funny little album is back in their lives now? — turns into something much more rich, as the reunion it inspires forces them to confront memories that have long plagued them. Not everything is resolved (for one thing, audience members will likely grapple with much of O’Brien’s influence and insights), but that’s hardly the intent here. Instead, it’s a question of the true nature of discovery, and how much people are willing to see of themselves.
We see a lot of X-Cetra in Mayeri’s documentary, and the ways in which these women are willing to participate in those reflections and revelations? That’s the kind of thing that should really go viral.
Grade: B+
“Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story” premiered at the 2026 SXSW Film and TV Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
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