Eight’s Feature Length Film About Dame Valerie Adams Is In Production

Hot off the heels of her fifth Olympic games and bronze medal win, Dame Valerie Adams is to feature in an honest and revealing film. Eight has announced the movie is in production via their long-form platform, The Story Department and is due for release in 2022.

The theatrical documentary will honour Dame Valerie as a woman who has not just survived a challenging past but taken strength from her sometimes difficult journey and turned it into greatness. Audiences will see that her outstanding sporting achievements are just the tip of the iceberg.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Briar March and produced by industry legend Leanne Pooley for Eight, who are working alongside Halo Sport, the movie will be made with investment from The New Zealand Film Commission and with the assistance of the New Zealand Government’s Screen Production Recovery Fund. It will be distributed in New Zealand and Australia by Transmission Films.

“It’s an incredible honour to have a documentary being created of my journey– even though I am just 36! I have been through a lot personally and as a professional athlete, so I’m proud to be able to share the story to date as it’s by all means not over yet,” says Dame Valerie.

The film’s producer Leanne Pooley has been a documentary filmmaker for over twenty-five years and has won dozens of awards around the world. She was made an Arts Laureate in 2011, named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Documentary in 2017 and the same year she was admitted to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Oscars). Leanne Pooley says, “Dame Valerie is a filmmaker’s dream. She is an articulate, complex, fascinating woman who isn’t afraid to be real”.

Director Briar March has won over thirty international awards for documentaries that have been screened around the world. She is a prolific storyteller with a tenacious passion for documentary filmmaking. Briar March commented that “Observing the way this strong woman navigates the responsibilities of motherhood, family life, and a professional athletic career, is both inspiring and meaningful and demonstrates the value and the cost of her fourth Olympic medal”.

Eight Managing Director and Executive Producer and The Story Department Founder, Katie Millington says, “Knowing a little about her journey and the endless sacrifices Dame Valerie has made, it was incredibly poignant to watch her on the podium in Tokyo. There were tears, let me tell you. The Story Department is passionate about females telling female stories and what a privilege it is to have access to this awe-inspiring woman’s incredible story. It really is a dream come true.”

About Dame Valerie Adams

Dame Valerie Adams is undoubtedly the most dominant track and field star New Zealand has ever produced.

From 2006-2014 Dame Valerie was unbeaten in major championships, enjoying an unprecedented winning streak in world athletics of 107 competitions during that period. Her major accolades include back-to-back Olympic gold at the 2008 and 2012 Games, an Olympic silver at the Rio Games in 2016 and four world championship titles.

Now a mother of two, Dame Valerie is a highly respected leader and role model in the Pacific community and continues to compete at the top level. In 2021, she added a bronze to her Olympic medal collection and became the first female New Zealand athlete to medal in four straight Olympics.

About Eight

Eight is an Australasian film production company founded in 1998 with offices in Sydney and Auckland.

We are passionate directors, producers, writers, editors, photographers, designers and visual artists. Almost two decades of film production has seen over eighty local and international craft awards and literally thousands of artists, technicians, creators and innovators through our doors.

We’re proud to be in the picture business servicing the advertising industry and we love what we do. At the heart of it, we’re a bunch of creative people with the ardent urge to tell stories, always fighting to get the best work made.

We are a straight-up, down to earth production company and we pride ourselves on our no dickheads policy. To this day, our rock-solid rep is the product of our people.

We strive for a workplace that reflects the community in which we live. We have a strong commitment to empowering women in the film industry and we support the 50/50 pledge working towards equal representation of men and women on set.

We will be running our next creative mentorship program in the 2nd half of 2021 and encourage applicants from all backgrounds and community sectors to apply.

About The Story Department

We have extended our film production offering to include long form storytelling. The Story Department is passionately committed to developing long-form fiction and non-fiction stories for screens, bringing short form TVC content production and long form production together under the same roof.

We are excited by the opportunities to collaborate with brands on seamlessly integrating brand stories into long form content and we are thrilled by the prospect of this model leading to many more films being made in this part of the world.

About Halo Sport

Halo Sport is a full-service agency dedicated to our clients’ prosperity delivered through identifying their unique aspirations and finding balanced solutions to fit.

Halo Sport represents some of the most exciting talent in rugby as well as some of New Zealand’s most successful individual athletes and personalities including Dame Valerie Adams.

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