The last lap is the hardest
If there’s one thing Australians know and appreciate it’s competitive swimming. Set at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (okay, so it’s a fantasy), butterfly champion Nadia is facing her final race as a member of the Canadian medley relay team. If you are a professional athlete, your whole life has been coached and focussed on specific goals. Retire, and suddenly the future seems vast and friendless and frighteningly open-ended. Here is a film made by people who are channelling the very personal experiences of their own lives. Director Pascal Plante retired from an Olympic-level swimming career to go to film school, while lead actress Katerine Savard represented Canada at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, where she won bronze. Canada’s sole selection for this year’s virtual Cannes film festival.
Pascal Plante
Pascal Plante hails from Quebec. He is a former competition swimmer, who then studied film at Concordia University. He has worked as a sound mixer and editor, before directing shorts including La fleur de l’âge (2011) and Nonna (2016), documentaries and series. His first feature was Fake Tattoos (2017).
