EXCLUSIVE: Whoopi Goldberg is exec producing Sean Claffey’s More Than A Medal, a feature documentary about refugee athletes who competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The project is in production with Limonero Films handling presales and taking the first footage out to buyers at the EFM in Berlin.
More Than A Medal (working title) follows sports journalist Poppy Farsijani as she traces the journeys of refugee athletes competing in Paris 2024 Olympics, highlighting their sporting feats as well as their respective fights for freedom.
The International Olympic Committee organizes the Summer and Winter Games and, in 2016, created an official refugee team. The team is now part of the official opening ceremonies in the same way as individual competing countries are represented. Filming on More Than A Medal took place in Paris as well as a raft of international locations including New York, LA, Washington, London as well as in Bulgaria and Germany.
Claffey (Americonned) directs the film, which unpacks the stories of several athletes living in exile and part of the refugee team.
“We shine the light into the darkness and expose injustice perpetrated on these athletes,” said Farsijani, who is also a producer on the project. “We pull back the curtain, not only highlighting the remarkable journeys of the refugee athletes but also addressing universal themes of resilience, freedom and the pursuit of justice.”
Limonero Films has footage for buyers at the EFM in Berlin. The indie sales house’s founder Pamela Martínez Martínez said: “The team has been working hard, travelling the world with these athletes to tell their stories of hardship and resilience. We look forward to start talking to festival programmers and buyers about it, at EFM.”