This year we are delighted to host the 2024 FOCAL Awards at the Church House Westminster on June 20th, we hope you can join us. Congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.
2024 shortlisted nominations
Stephen Curry: Underrated
Director:
Peter Nicks
Producer(s):
Ryan Coogler / Erick Peyton / Ben Cotner / Marissa Torres Ericson / Sean Havey
Footage Archive Researcher:
Loi Almeron
Footage Archive Producer:
Matthew Fisher
Archival Sources:
NCAA / NBA / CBS Sports / Southern Conference / Catapult
Production Company:
Apple Original Films / A24 / Unanimous Media / Proximity Media
Country of Production:
USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
The coming-of-age story of one of the most influential players in the history of basketball: Stephen Curry. The documentary blends cinéma vérité, archival footage and on camera interviews to document Curry’s rise from an undersized college player to a four-time NBA champion.
HATTON
Director:
Daniel Dewsbury
Producer(s):
John McKenna
Footage Archive Researcher:
Peter Scott / John Smith
Footage Archive Producer:
Cristina Miro
Archival Sources:
Top Rank Boxing / AP Archive / ITV Archive / Insurgency Films / Krafty Entertainment
Production Company:
NOAH MEDIA GROUP / SKY
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
British boxer Ricky Hatton incredible journey from Manchester Council estate to fighting in Las Vegas. Also explores themes of celebrity and mental health, acting as both a celebration of talent and cautionary talent.
Race to the Summit
Director:
Nicholas de Taranto / Götz Werner
Producer(s):
David Tryhorn / Max Dobbyn
Footage Archive Researcher:
Alessandra Berti
Footage Archive Producer:
Andres Aristizabal
Archival Sources:
SRF / Don Bowie - personal archive / Mammut / Docmine Productions / Helliventures
Production Company:
Pitch International
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Race to the Summit unfolds the intersecting narratives of two Swiss alpinists, Dani Arnold and Ueli Steck, whose lightning-quick ascents of the Alps’ most perilous north faces captured the world’s attention and opened up a controversial new frontier in the ancient pursuit of mountain climbing.
Mountains like the Eiger or the Matterhorn take an accomplished mountaineer a day or more to scale. Dani and Ueli soloed them in less than three hours - with no ropes or safety equipment. But this high stakes duel came with unintended consequences and led both men to discover where their limits lay.
Featuring never-before-seen archive and interviews with those closest to Ueli and Dani, including legendary climbers Alex Honnold and Don Bowie, Race to the Summit is Europe's answer to award-winning climbing features such as Fourteen Peaks and Free Solo. The Daily Mail declared it, ‘a breathless, vertigo-inducing documentary about the drive to be the best.’
Bill Russell: Legend
Director:
Sam Pollard
Producer(s):
Reuben Atlas / Martha Spanninger
Footage Archive Producer:
Helen R. Russell / Andrew Mayz / Jim Podhoretz
Associate Archival Producer:
Zach F. Williams
Archival Sources:
NBA Entertainment / Fox Archives / Northeast Historic Films / Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries / AP Archive
Production Company:
High Five Productions, LLC
Country of Production:
USA
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
Bill Russell: Legend captures the remarkable life and legacy of an NBA superstar and civil rights icon. This two-part film from director Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI) features the last interview with Russell prior to his passing in 2022. Russell’s story is told in his own voice through original and archival interviews as well as excerpts from Russell’s memoirs read by actor Jeffrey Wright. With archival footage as the film’s backbone, Russell’s story spans history from the 1930s - 2020s. On the court, Russell led every team he played on to championships -- two NCAA titles, a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics, and eleven NBA Championships in thirteen years as a Boston Celtic, his last two as the first Black head coach in NBA history. Off the court, Russell was a force in the fight for human rights - marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and leading boycotts in the NBA and local communities over racist practices and segregation — efforts which earned him the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom. From his humble beginnings in Louisiana to the top of the sports world, Bill Russell: Legend illuminates how Russell stood tall in every sense of the word.
Mark Cavendish: Never Enough
Director:
Alex Kiehl
Producer(s):
David Tryhorn
Footage Archive Researcher:
Andres Aristizabal / Finn Cotter
Footage Archive Producer:
Kirsty Asher
Archival Sources:
ASO / Pro Cycling Team / Dimension Data / Nick Poole & Decolef LUX (Quick-Step) / WEDU / UCI
Production Company:
Pitch International
Country of Production:
UK
Original Release:
2023
Synopsis
On July 2nd 2016, British cyclist Mark Cavendish won his 27th Tour de France stage. The first British rider ever to wear the Tour’s green jersey now donned the coveted yellow jersey for the first time in his career. Three more stage wins followed that summer, bringing the great Eddy Merckx’s 41-year-old record of 34 stage wins within Mark’s grasp.
Mark needed four more stage wins to cement his legacy as cycling’s greatest-ever sprinter. He got five agonising years of injury, illness and depression instead.
By the spring of 2021, he was struggling to find a team. He hadn’t added to his tally of 30 Tour de France stage wins; nobody imagined that he would.
With exclusive access to Mark, his wife Peta, his team-mates, and his coaches, Mark Cavendish: Never Enough charts the rise, fall and resurrection of a genuine sporting great and the wiliest, most effective, and most confrontational cyclist ever. Raw and honest, this feature-length documentary is an uplifting profile in resilience and self-belief that reveals the inside story of one of the most inspiring and unexpected comebacks in sporting history. The Times stated, ‘even if cycling isn’t your passion, this film is edge-of-your-seat-stuff.’
