• Search Keywords

  • Year

  • Production Status

  • Genre

  • Co-production

  • SA Supported

  • First Nations Creative

  • Length

  • Technique

The Screen Guide

Follows the formation of the wheelchair rugby team in the lead up to the 2018 Invictus Games. Australia will host IG18 with over 500 people from 18 nations competing. Conceived by Prince Harry, the games are open to former and current serving military men and women who have been wounded in battle, injured on duty or fallen ill throughout their service to their country. Our story begins during the initial ‘screening and testing’ phase. Approx 30 wheelchair rugby team applicants, both male and female, experienced and novice, come face to face with their selectors for the first time. Coach Andrew ‘Bert’ Bertocin, a Navy Warrant Officer has the unenviable task of narrowing the team down to only 12 competitors. The selection criteria are unlike any other sporting event; Invictus is about ‘the unconquerable human spirit’. Participants are selected based on how the experience will benefit their ongoing recovery and rehab, a concept that is not always received positively by those who don’t make the cut. Wheelchair Rugby is an adaptive sport meaning the competitors don’t need to be permanently confined to a wheelchair to participate. Some team members will have physical disabilities although for many it’s the unseen injuries, the emotional scares, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD has claimed more defence lives back home in the past 2 years than our 14-year war in Afghanistan. Away from their rigorous training regime and the hype and hysteria the games generate, we follow some of the wheelchair rugby team members on their home front to see how their lives have been impacted. How do they integrate back into ‘normal’ life, what genuine employment opportunities do they have and how do their families ‘really’ cope. And what about the injured who still serve? This is a story about a very special team of extraordinary men and women who are divided by their personal struggles but united by their desire to remain ‘unconquered’ through the universal language of sport.

Cast & Crew & Production Details

Is this your listing? Request an update here.

Producer
Belinda Cone  Brad Cone
Cast
No cast details
Production Completion
2018
Production Company
Threefold Films Pty Ltd
Sales information not available

Screen Australia Supported

  • Production support