Soaking in the Olympic spirit? So are we! And we're taking our love for the Olympics one step further by bringing you a selection of five award-winning films from our Digital Library's movie collection that celebrate the Olympic spirit and values.
These films are perfect to binge-watch over the weekend, and each film carries a meaningful message about solidarity, collaboration, hope, and motivation. Check them out!
- Back on the Board: Greg Louganis – The film is an intimate portrayal of the triumphs and private struggles of openly gay Olympic champion, Greg Louganis. Back on the Board follows Louganis for three years as he struggles with financial security and reunites with the sport, he once dominated but did not feel welcome in. The threat of losing his house during a financial crisis forces Louganis to re-evaluate the choices, relationships, and missed opportunities of his career. The film was premiered on HBO in 2015 and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2016. The film also gained acclaim on the film festival circuit, screening at over 40 festivals worldwide and picking up eight awards.
- Ali’s Comeback: The Untold Story – The documentary is about an unusual group of people who come together in the most unlikely location to make it possible for the greatest athlete on the planet Mohammed Ali to have a career once again.
- Harder than Everest – A high adventure film about Tim Macartney’s incredible expedition to climb Gasherbrum IV – an 8,000-metre symmetrical pyramid mountain of rock and ice on the border of Pakistan and China in the Karakoram range of western Himalaya. Tim, as part of the US team, was the first in the team to reach the summit, and as he says, “the climb was harder than Everest”.
- Personal Gold: An Underdog Olympic Women's Cycling Team Story – A must-see Olympic story, this documentary focuses on the experience of four underdog women cyclists who become America's hope for a medal at the 2012 London Olympics after the men's team was banned during the Lance Armstrong drug scandal. In this post-Armstrong period, the underfunded women turn to volunteers, including their husbands to patch together an innovative ‘Data not Drugs’ approach. The women went on to win the first U.S. Women's Track Cycling medal in over 20 years. The film was an official Selection at the Seattle International Film Festival.
- The 1836 Olympic Games: Nazi Secrets at the Berlin Olympics – Berlin, Germany. August 1936. Hundreds of thousands of spectators gather to watch as Hitler and the Olympic delegates arrived at the opening ceremony. Olympic flags hang cheerfully side-by-side to the banners bearing the Nazi swastika. What really happened behind-the-scenes at this spectacular international sporting event? The film investigates the secret negotiations and compromises made by the International Olympic Committee to bring the 1936 Olympics to Berlin.
Watch the award-winning films on British Council’s Digital Library – a fantastic repository of thousands of ad-free classic films, world cinema, children’s movies, documentaries, critically acclaimed movies, popular award-winning foreign films, musical concerts and much more at an unbelievable INR 1800 for one year (comes to INR 150 per month!)
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