Sports legends Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are launching a new short film series to spotlight the universal, but underrepresented experiences of female athletes.
The short films, collectively titled “Unstoppable: Stories of Strength,” explore themes such as returning to sports after childbirth, the emotional toll of injury, systemic inequities in nutrition, and the realities of aging as a female athlete. As the series logline explains, “Unstoppable” highlights “the grit, determination, tenacity, and strength of female athletes around the world.”
Bird and Rapinoe executive produce the series through their company, A Touch More. Camille Bernier-Green, the company’s head of development also serves as an executive producer.
“Our goal with A Touch More has always been to pull back the curtain on what it is like to be a female athlete, and these short films do just that,” Bird and Rapinoe said in a statement to Variety. “From motherhood to injuries to aging, these are the stories that rarely get told but mean everything to the athletes living them.”
The first episode, “Filling the Void,” launches on the Togethxr YouTube channel on Friday; new episodes roll out weekly. Directed by Cherish Oteka, “Filling the Void,” focuses on Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus and her comeback after being sidelined by a devastating injury at the peak of her career.
In “Fueling Giants,” directed by Luciana Faulhaber, athletes Carsan Dittman, Morghan Medlock and Claire Emslie expose the systemic nutrition gap holding women back in pro sports and call for a new standard.
Olympic gold medalist soccer star Alex Morgan and world champion tennis player Victoria Azarenka share the untold truth of motherhood in elite sports and reveal what it takes to return to play after giving birth in “Born to Carry,” directed by Sarah Springer.
Jalena Keane-Lee directs “Second Spring,” which follows Oakland-based dancer and choreographer Sarah Crowell as she redefines her relationship with her body and craft as she experiences menopause, confronting what it means to age as a female athlete.
In 2022, Variety exclusively announced that Bird and Rapino would launch A Touch More, a production company focused on “elevating stories about revolutionaries who move culture forward” and championing narratives centered on identity, activism and underrepresented communities. A Touch More’s first scripted TV series, “Playing the Field,” based on the bestselling novel “Cleat Cute,” is currently in development.
Rapinoe is also executive producing the documentary film “Kick,” about Nikki Hiltz, the fastest American in the 1500m, and their journey to becoming the first out transgender runner to compete at the Olympics. In addition to co-hosting the Webby Award-winning podcast “A Touch More” with Rapinoe, Bird debuted her first solo podcast, “Bird’s Eye View,” which focuses on the current WNBA season in May.