Swim Team
Directed by Lara Stolman
US, 2017, 100 min., in English
SWIM TEAM is a feature documentary chronicling the rise of
a competitive swim team made up of diverse teens on the autism
spectrum. Based in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, the cast of SWIM TEAM is
largely Latino and Asian, minorities that are underrepresented in
competitive swimming and underserved in autism intervention and
education. The film follows three of the team’s star athletes, boys on
the cusp of adulthood as they face a future of exclusion and dependence.
But everything changes when they come together as a team with parent
coaches who train them with high expectations and zero pity. As the team
vies for state and national Special Olympics championships, SWIM TEAM
captures a moving quest for inclusion, independence and a life that
feels winning.
Stay for a Q&A with Director Lara Stolman
Director Lara Stolman
Lara’s work has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, TLC, AMC, VH-1 and The New
York Times’ website. Her film Portraits of Survival, about coming to
terms with the tragedy of 9/11 through art was selected for the Hamptons
International Film Festival, aired on MSNBC and was awarded the Cine
Golden Eagle.
For Swim Team, her first feature documentary film, she was named an IFP
Documentary Lab Fellow, awarded the New York Women in Film and
Television- Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness grant and was provided
with funding from the Karma Foundation, The Aetna Foundation and
Easterseals. Swim Team will be released theatrically in July of 2017 and
will air on PBS’ acclaimed non fiction showcase POV later in the year.
Lara has guest lectured on documentary production at NYU, served as a
juror for the News and Documentary Emmy Awards and writes for the
Huffington Post. She has a BA in Political Science from Columbia College
of Columbia University and JD from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin
Cardozo School of Law.