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LONDON — Caroline Rowland‘s First, the IOC approved official movie of the London 2012 Olympics, will be rolled out in British movie theaters from Nov. 23 by U.K. distributor Revolver.
Billed as candid and compelling, Rowland’s movie follows the trials, tribulations and triumphs of 12 first-time Olympic athletes.
The movie is set for a Nov. 6 with London organizer and former Olympian Sebastian Coe expected to attend “alongside a host of luminaries from the sporting world.”
The filmmaker was granting unprecedented access to some of the most thrilling moments of the games, including gold-winning performances from U.S. swimming star Missy Franklin.
Rowland shot footage of U.S. swimmers in Tennessee for the movie before the games began.
First is written, produced and directed by Rowland, who also wrote and produced the London 2012 Olympic bid films with Daryl Goodrich directing when the British capital was in the running to get the games.
The project is intended as a continuation of the Bud Greenspan movies that have chronicled other recent Olympic Games.
Greenspan is credited with inventing the official Olympic film genre. His Sixteen Days of Glory, centering on the 1984 Los Angeles games, is one of the most critically acclaimed sports films “of our time,” Rowland said.
New Moon has the rights to the film for seven years, then they revert to the IOC.
A spokesperson for New Moon said NBC is the US rights holding broadcaster and that discussions with NBCUniversal regarding a release strategy in the US are ongoing.
In the U.K., it gives the BBC first refusal to take the TV rights.
