Julia Fuhr Mann
Germany
2023
79 min
German, English
If history is written by the victors, where does that leave those who were never allowed to be part of the game? In this powerful documentary, a collective of queer athletes enters the Olympic Stadium in Athens to honour those who were excluded from standing on the podium. They meet Amanda Reiter, a trans marathon runner battling the prejudices of sports organizers, and Annet Negesa, an 800-metre runner pressured by international sports federations to undergo hormone-altering surgery. Together, the athletes create a radical utopia to challenge the rigid gender rules of competitive sports and envision a more inclusive future.
Queer feminist filmmaker Julia Fuhr Mann (Riot Not Diet) uses a blend of archival footage, fictional narrative, and reimagined recordbreaking sporting events to offer a triumphant exploration of the achievements, challenges, and legacies of Olympic champions, including intersex Ugandan runner Annet Negesa, intersex Polish-American track and field athlete Stella Walsh, and American sprinter Wilma Rudolph.