Maiden

Dir. Alex Holmes | UK 2018 | 97 min | 12A

This rousing, feminist adventure documentary chronicles the epic journey of Tracy Edwards – a woman who dared to make waves and become the skipper of the first all-female sailing crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race.

In 1989, at the age of 24, Tracy Edwards was a cook on charter boats with a dream of sailing around the world. In a sport that was male dominated at the time, she gathered an international team of incredible yachtswomen to enter the longest and most challenging race on Earth: the Whitbread Round the World Race. This ambition was opposed on all sides: her male competitors thought an all-female crew would never make it, the chauvinistic yachting press took bets on her failure, and potential sponsors rejected her, fearing they would die at sea and generate bad publicity. But Tracy refused to give up; she put everything on the line to ensure the team made it to the start line, and with the support of her remarkable crew, went on to shock the world and change the sport’s extreme gender bias for good.

Exciting and inspiring, this moving portrait of resilience is a timeless ode to passion and a fascinating account of a historic breakthrough in women’s sport.

Tickets: £7.75 / £6.00 (inc. Poly Fund)