Katie Bender (filmmaker)
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Katie Bender Wynn (born 5 October 1985) is an Australian filmmaker based in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. She made her feature-length directing debut with the 2016 documentary '' The Will To Fly'' about Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist
Lydia Lassila Lydia Lassila (née Ierodiaconou) (born 17 January 1982) is an Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist who competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and the 2014 bronze med ...
.


Early life

Bender is a former gymnast and
freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...
, and trained on the Australian freestyle aerial ski team. Bender attended Methodist Ladies College in Victoria,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
where she could study and train at a high-performance gymnastics center based on campus. At 16 years old, Bender was recruited by the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia to join an athlete talent pathway program which converted gymnasts into freestyle aerial skiers.


Film


''The Will To Fly''

Bender was the producer and director of the 2016 feature documentary The Will To Fly about Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist
Lydia Lassila Lydia Lassila (née Ierodiaconou) (born 17 January 1982) is an Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist who competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and the 2014 bronze med ...
. Bender is an ex-teammate of Lydia and was inspired to make ''The Will To Fly'' in 2012 while visiting Lydia at a training camp in
Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...
. Lydia was the defending Olympic champion at the time and had just returned to the sport as a first-time mother. Bender realised the potential for a feature-length film when Lydia explained her sporting aspirations to narrow the gap between male and female capabilities by performing a "quad triple twisting, triple somersault" at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Will To Fly was five years in the making and one of Australia's first feature-length sports documentaries. The film made its Australian premiere in Melbourne on
International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...
(8 March) 2016 followed by a
theatrical release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public. Film A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in thea ...
, where it was positively received by critics. The film was quoted "The Most Inspirational Movie of the Year" by
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.


''Matildas: The World At Our Feet''

Bender was the director of the 2023
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docu-series Matildas: The World At Our Feet, for which she was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television. The six-part docu-series is an inspirational and intimate behind-the-scenes story following the
Matildas The Australia women's national soccer team is overseen by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) s ...
, as they prepare for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on home soil. The series features players including superstar
Sam Kerr Samantha May Kerr (born 10 September 1993) is an Australian professional Association football, soccer player who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Women's Super League club Chelsea F.C. Women, Chelsea, and the Australia ...
,
Ellie Carpenter Ellie Madison Carpenter (born 28 April 2000) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a defender for French Première Ligue club Lyon and the Australia national team. She previously played for Western Sydney Wanderers, Canbe ...
, Mary Fowler, and more.


Filmography

* The Will To Fly (2016) – director *We Champion (2021) – director * Matildas: The World At Our Feet (2023) – director


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bender Wynn, Katie Living people 1985 births Australian female freestyle skiers People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne Australian film producers Australian women film directors Australian documentary film directors Film directors from Melbourne Australian women documentary filmmakers Australian expatriates in the United States People from Geelong