Maiden

Alex Holmes's 2019 documentary tells of the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race, held in 1989 and 1990. Tracy Edwards, twenty-four, mortgaged a boat nobody wanted to sponsor and assembled a crew. The race covered thirty-three thousand nautical miles across a hundred and sixty-seven days, and the crew won two legs. The strongest material is the footage the crew shot themselves: fifty-foot waves, icebergs and daily life aboard. What the women say in the present-day interviews includes how the press of the time treated them, and the contemptuous headlines enter the film directly. The story cannot entirely escape the shape of a triumph narrative, though the strength of the material compensates. Who it's for: viewers interested in sailing, the history of women's rights and stories of endurance. Who it's not for: anyone unprepared for content about death and loss at sea, or tired of the sports documentary template.