Sports legends Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe launch a new short film series highlighting the universal but underrepresented experiences of female athletes.
Collectively known as “Unstoppable: Stories of Strength,” these short films explore themes such as returning to sports after giving birth, the mental toll of injury, systemic nutritional inequities, and the realities of aging as a female athlete. As explained in the series’ logline, “Unstoppable” highlights “the grit, determination, tenacity, and strength of female athletes around the world.”
Bird and Rapinoe are executive producing the series through their company, A Touch More. Camille Bernier-Green, the company’s head of development, also serves as executive producer.
“Our goal with ‘A Touch More’ has always been to pull back the curtain on what it’s 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 injury to aging, these are stories that are rarely told, but they mean everything to these athletes.”
The first episode, “Filling the Void,” will be released on Friday on the Togethxr YouTube channel. New episodes are released every week. Directed by Cherish Oteka, Filling the Void focuses on Olympic fencer Isaola Tibas and her comeback after being sidelined by a serious injury at the peak of her career.
In “Fueling Giants,” directed by Luciana Faulhaber, nutritionist Karsan Dittman, chef Morgan Medlock, and Angel City FC player Claire Emslie expose the systemic nutritional disparities that prevent women from participating in professional sports and call for new standards. Exposes the systemic nutritional disparities that keep women away from professional sports and calls for new standards. Expose the systemic nutritional disparities that prevent women from participating in professional sports and call for new standards.
Olympic gold medalist soccer player Alex Morgan and world champion tennis player Victoria Azarenka tell the untold truth of motherhood in elite sports and reveal what it takes to return to competition after giving birth, in Built to Carry, directed by Sarah Springer.
Second Spring, directed by Jalena Keene-Lee, follows Oakland-based dancer and choreographer Sarah Crowell as she experiences menopause, confronts what it means to age as a female athlete, and redefines her relationship to her body and craft.
In 2022, Variety exclusively announced that Bird and Rapinoe would launch A Touch More, a production company focused on “elevating stories about revolutionaries who move culture forward” and championing stories centered on identity, activism, and underrepresented communities. A Touch More’s first scripted TV series “Playing the Field,” based on the best-selling novel “Cleat Cute,” is currently in development.
Rapinoe is also the executive producer of “Kick,” a documentary about America’s fastest 1,500-meter runner, Nikki Hiltz, and her journey to becoming the first transgender athlete to compete in 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,” in May, which focuses on the current WNBA season.
