WAYWARD 2026
Now streaming on Amazon, Documentary+, and Xumo is Wayward, a new feature documentary about the women who changed snowboarding, on the mountain and across the industry. Director Mia Lambson Brady weaves together four decades of rare archival footage and firsthand accounts from the pioneering athletes who pushed the sport forward while fighting for visibility, opportunity, and respect in a male-dominated industry.
The first documentary of its kind, Wayward examines the evolution of gender equality in the snowboard industry over the past 40+ years, through the lens of some of the world’s top female snowboarders: from its humble beginnings in the 80s and 90s; through a tumultuous time in the 2000s, where inequality and sexualization thrived; to today, when cultural and financial support has reached all-time highs, resulting in unprecedented athletic progression.
Many of the themes in Wayward run through the most acclaimed women’s sports documentaries. From the surf break to the soccer field to the face of El Capitan, these films capture the thrill of watching women push the limits of their sports, break gender barriers, and excel in the face of obstacles their male counterparts rarely had to consider. Here are seven more must-watch women’s sports documentaries…
MIGHTY MARY (2006)
It began with a recruitment ad in The New York Times. What some dismissed as a publicity stunt became a serious bid for the 1995 America’s Cup, as the first all-women’s crew aboard Mighty Mary took on four-time Cup winner Dennis Conner and his Stars & Stripes team. Directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker and Olympian, Mary Mazzio, and narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman, Mighty Mary chronicles the crew from tryouts to the racecourse, where they stunningly eliminated Stars & Stripes from contention – before a deal struck behind closed doors would upend the outcome.
CHRIS & MARTINA: THE FINAL SET (2026)
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova faced each other 80 times, pushing each other to new heights, and captivating tennis fans for nearly two decades. Featuring never before seen interviews and footage, Chris and Martina: The Final Set brings together these tennis legends as they tell the story of their rivalry and the friendship that grew out of it. Years after their final match, we see how that friendship sustains them as they face their respective battles with cancer, reckoning with the effects of illness and medical treatment on their lives.
GIRLS CAN’T SURF (2021)
In the 1980s a group of rebellious female surfers took on the male-dominated professional surfing world in a fight for inclusion, recognition, and equality. Archival surf footage and candid interviews with surfers like Pam Burridge, Jodie Cooper, and Pauline Menczer in Girls Can’t Surf bring to life those who fought for their place in the lineup and a fair share of the prize money — and changed the sport forever.
DARE TO DREAM: THE STORY OF THE US WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM (2007)
Soccer legends Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, and Joy Fawcett anchor the story of a team that went from relative obscurity to the center of American sports. Dare to Dream traces their rise through Olympic gold and World Cup titles, including the landmark 1999 victory that made them household names and transformed women’s sports in America.
MOUNTAIN QUEEN: THE SUMMITS OF LHAKPA SHERPA (2023)
Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit Everest and make it back alive, returns to the mountain for a record-breaking tenth ascent. Mountain Queen moves between the thin air and punishing winds of Everest, and her life as an immigrant single mother working at Whole Foods in Connecticut, as she raises her two daughters in hopes they will have more opportunities in their lives than what she has had to fight for in hers.
ATHLETE A (2020)
“Athlete A” was the name used to protect the identity of gymnast Maggie Nichols, who with her coach, first reported Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse to USA Gymnastics in 2015. Athlete A follows the survivors who came forward, and the Indianapolis Star reporters whose investigation exposed the abuse and the culture that allowed it to continue — before Nassar was ultimately convicted of multiple sex crimes.
GIRL CLIMBER (2025)
Girl Climber follows professional rock climber Emily Harrington as she attempts a historic 24-hour free climb of Yosemite’s El Capitan, and seeks to become the first woman to free climb its Golden Gate route in a day. After a near-fatal fall, the film brings you back onto the wall with her as she weighs what she’s willing to risk, and against her personal aspirations to start a family. The film also stars Alex Honnold, her climbing partner, Lynn Hill, Tommy Caldwell, and many more of the greatest climbers in the sport.
