Directed by April Abeyta, the first-of-its-kind documentary on the long-term impact of sports on women, reaches on-demand and digital platforms November 2.
OAKLAND, Nov. 2, 2021 – After the Game: A 20 Year Look at Three Former Athletes, a feature-length documentary that spans nearly 20 years to unveil the long-term empowering impact of sports on women, launches today on iTunes, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Xfinity on Demand, Cox, and Spectrum. The video-on-demand release of the first-of-its-kind documentary arrives at a crucial time for girls in sports.
Directed by April Abeyta and distributed by Premiere Digital, After the Game: A 20 Year Look at Three Former Athletes follows three young women on a 1999 collegiate basketball team as they push to reach their athletic potential and seek NCAA glory at a small university. Nearly 20 years later, these same women each find themselves applying lessons learned from their playing days to different professional off-the-court challenges.
Weaving together the stories of two college basketball players, Michelle Ruzzi and Polly Neves, and their head coach Mary Hegarty, After the Game: A 20 Year Look at Three Former Athletes gives perspective into the world of small-time college athletics and highlights the connection between sports participation and professional success.
This film is particularly timely, as Women’s Sports Foundation reports that by age 14, girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys. COVID-19 appears to be exacerbating this discrepancy, with Canadian Women & Sport recently finding that 1 in 4 Canadian girls are not committed to returning to sport after the conclusion of the pandemic.
“If this film helps even one young girl recognize the wider scope of sports benefits and continue on with her athletic career when she would have otherwise quit, then we will have contributed something incredibly powerful and positive to our community,” said After the Game: A 20 Year Look at Three Former Athletes director and producer April Abeyta. “This makes After the Game a story worth sharing.”
In working with Premiere Digital, an industry-trusted aggregator and distributor, After the Game: A 20 Year Look at Three Former Athletes, follows the release of another film focused on elite female athletes and their journey to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Michele Edelman, Head of Growth, said, “Premiere Digital is excited to once again be a part of such groundbreaking films reflecting the diverse experiences of strong, resilient women in athletics. We look forward to continue bringing inspirational, riveting, authentic stories to mass audiences.”
The benefits of athletic involvement for women are evident in boardrooms, executive officers, and other corporate environments. Research from Ernst & Young and ESPNw found that 96% of women who hold C-suite level positions in the U.S. are former athletes, and 52% of C-suite women played sports at the university level. After the Game: A 20 Year Look at Three Former Athletes exhibits this sports and positive outcomes correlation in action.
Additional information is available by visiting www.afterthegamethemovie.com and through the film’s Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts.
About April Abeyta
April Abeyta has a 15+ year career in filmmaking and corporate video production, and has acquired a unique ability to balance creativity with business acumen. As an independent filmmaker, she has directed and produced several short films, including Sly Sylvester, an award-winning comedy, and Seven Minutes to Closing, a nationally-screened drama starring Trestin George (Fruitvale Station) which earned Best Direction and Best Cast Performance awards.
In the corporate sector, she has produced and managed video teams for a wide variety of projects and customers. Currently, she is COO for Seed&Spark, a platform that drives measurable impact through storytelling.
April has a BFA in Film and Television Production from Chapman University.
About Premiere Digital
Premiere Digital partners with major media companies in the entertainment industry. The company has been a major player in the media distribution space for years. Their distribution has a global reach of more than 100 countries through agreements with major digital, cable, satellite, and broadcast platforms. Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, Premiere Digital is a trusted media services and software solutions partner for content owners, video distributors, digital retailers, broadcasters, subscription video and ad supported platforms.
Contact:
Kim Nunley
Producer
P: 925-876-6739
[email protected]
Afterthegamethemovie.com
Trailer – https://youtu.be/cswUlqmCBXE
Press Kit – https://bit.ly/3mqVVGA