30 for 30 Short “Brave in the Attempt,” Executive Produced by Maria Shriver, to Kick Off ESPN’s Special Olympics Coverage on July 25
The film focuses on her mother Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her creation of the Special Olympics
ESPN Films’ new 30 for 30 Short, “Brave in the Attempt,” will premiere on July 25, at 7:30 p.m. ET, kicking off the coverage of The 2015 Special Olympics World Games on ESPN. The film is executive produced by Peabody- and Emmy award-winning journalist, author and social activist Maria Shriver and focuses on the life of her mother Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of Special Olympics. “Brave in the Attempt” is directed by Peabody- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Fritz Mitchell.
The Special Olympics Athlete Oath: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt.” has come to embody the movement started by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1962 with a summer camp in her Maryland backyard. Special Olympics is now made up of more than 4.5 million athletes all over the world, and in this powerful and moving exploration viewers will see how this world-changing social action, sports & political initiative was born, and why its growth is so important. “Brave in the Attempt” captures the force of nature that was Eunice Shriver and shows how her personal mission, inspired by her sister Rosemary Kennedy’s own struggles with inclusion, to improve the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities eventually developed into the Special Olympics movement.
“I am so proud to have worked with ESPN on a film showcasing my mother’s legacy,” says Maria Shriver. “She used Special Olympics to change the world for those with intellectual disabilities – not only on the playing field, but also politically, and in the hearts and minds of millions around the world. “Brave in the Attempt” shows my mother’s passion, and fight for those who weren’t included or valued. I’m happy it’s coinciding with the Special Olympics World Games & the release of a national survey from the “Shriver Report Snapshot: Insight into Intellectual Disability in the 21st Century.”
The July 25 debut of “Brave in the Attempt” will be followed on ESPN by Countdown to the Special Olympics World Games with Robin Roberts (8 p.m. ET) and ESPN’s live, three-hour coverage of the Special Olympics World Games Opening Ceremony (9 p.m. ET). The film will have a digital premiere on Grantland.com on July 28 and will re-air several times throughout ESPN’s coverage of the Special Olympics World Games.
ESPN Films’ Emmy Award-winning 30 for 30 Shorts series first premiered September 26, 2012 on Grantland.com, and featured short films on topics including the “Arnold Palmer” beverage, the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card and a mixed Palestinian-Israeli youth soccer team.
The 24th Special Olympics World Games will take place over 10 days in Los Angeles beginning July 25, 2015. Every two years, Special Olympics athletes come together to compete at the Special Olympics World Games. Nearly 7,000 athletes from 165 countries will be competing in 25 different sports at venues throughout Los Angeles, including USC and UCLA.
About ESPN Films
Created in March 2008, ESPN Films produces high-quality films showcasing some of the most compelling stories in sports. In October 2009, ESPN Films launched its signature 30 for 30 film series, which has since won a Peabody Award, Producer’s Guild Award and an Emmy Award. Inspired by ESPN’s 30th Anniversary, the films that made up the series were a thoughtful and innovative reflection on the past three decades told through the lens of diverse and interesting sports fans and social commentators. The strong reaction from both critics and fans led to the launch of 30 for 30 Volume II, which is currently underway. Additional projects from ESPN Films include the critically-acclaimed Nine for IX series, SEC Storied and the Webby Award- and Emmy Award-winning 30 for 30 Shorts.
About Maria Shriver and Shriver Films
Maria Shriver is a mother of four, a Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist and producer, a six-time New York Times best-selling author, a Special Olympics International board member, the founder of the non-profit A Woman’s Nation which produces the award-winning Shriver Reports, and an NBC News Special Anchor. Maria Shriver founded Shriver Films with the goal of executive producing socially conscious documentaries & feature-length films that ignite hearts and minds. In 2008 she executive produced the award-winning “American Idealist: The Life and Times of Sargent Shriver.” In 2009, Shriver co-executive produced the Emmy-winning four-part-HBO-documentary series, “The Alzheimer’s Project,” She is an executive producer of the 2014 Emmy-nominated and Television Academy-honored HBO documentary “Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert,” and an executive producer of the Oscar-winning 2014 feature film “Still Alice,” starring Julianne Moore.
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