Maiden (2018)

At the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year, Maiden excited audiences with its extraordinary story of strength and perseverance. Through a large number of archival videos and in-depth personal interviews, this amazing documentary constitutes a journey full of suspense, bitterness and exhilaration, demonstrating the enduring tenacity of the human spirit. In the late 1980s, British amateur sailor Tracy Edwards decided that she had had enough of being fired and was demoted to the only woman on her sailing team. Tracy set her sights on the upcoming Whitbeck Globe Race, a shocking 40,000-nautical-mile round-the-world voyage that few ships dared to stop. Tracy assembled the world's first international all-women's sailing team and took part in the race. As they withstood not only the life-threatening high seas, but also the storm of sexism in the media, this inspiring group of women had to rely on their own and each other's pure flexibility to prove opponents and skeptics wrong. What they did not fully anticipate, however, was how their expedition would mean more than just a race to the finish line.