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Sarah Dowland | USA | 2024
Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary director and producer, Sarah Dowland, follows the greatest point guard in women’s basketball, Sue Bird, through her final year in the WNBA in SUE BIRD: IN THE CLUTCH. Being a professional basketball point guard for twenty-one years, how does one retire from a sport one loves? This question is what the legendary Sue Bird faced preparing for her retirement as a renowned basketball star. Bird will always be of influential both on and off the court to those women in sports who come after her.
Adding to her accolades, Bird is a five-time Olympic gold-medalist which in and of itself is phenomenal. Dowland eloquently shares Bird’s story through archival film footage, interviews with family, friends, colleagues, and her fiancé, U.S. women’s soccer champion and Olympic gold medalist, Megan Rapinoe. Dowland incorporates all stages of Bird’s career as a female sports marvel and explores her drive to become one of the best point guards to play the game, eventually propelling her lifelong status as a legend.
Dowland’s documentary flows eloquently allowing Bird to share her story in her own words with transparency and candor.
A remarkable career is achieved by skills in leadership, learning from others, prioritizing team play, and the pursuit to build on the right fundamentals to achieve excellence. Bird understood that these were key aspects for success. Bird was known as the team’s “clutch player” for having the right grip on the play or situation. One of her friends acknowledges, “Sue was very happy being Robin to someone’s Batman.” Though often, she had no problem taking control as Batman.
Dowland shares Birds future aspirations, “In 2021, Bird founded TOGETHERXR—a women-centered media group along with three female athletes to further the progress, culture, representation, and coverage of all women and girls in sport.” Continuing, “December 2022, Bird together with Rapinoe, in partnership with TOGETHERXR, launched a production company—A Touch More—in order to tell stories of the people moving culture forward. Their mission is to bring more understanding, connection, entertainment, and conversation to the ever-evolving media landscape.”
Bird’s activism for equality, equity, health, and wellness, and expanding opportunities for girls and all marginalized people will continue long after her retirement years. Together with Rapinoe, their achievements and their impact on the world of sports will forever be a model of integrity.