The Flashettes

Inner city girls gain self-esteem from a track club
by
Year Released
2001
Film Length(s)
20 mins

Introduction

An exhilarating exposition of how young urban women can actively develop themselves through sports.

Featured review

A classic inspirational film that provides valuable lessons about dealing with disappointment, keeping hope, being persistent, handling trouble and developing self discipline.
Patricia Priesing
Voice of Youth Advocates

Synopsis

Focusing on their hopes and aspirations,this upbeat film movingly shows how the rigorous training helps to produce more than just muscle, but a positive self-identity and pride. A young man returns to his community after college and decides to do something about the alcoholism, drugs and teen pregnancies he sees everywhere. He starts a girls track club for ages 6-16, and instilling the spirit of "I CAN", The Flashettes becomes more than a team, but a second family, building self-confidence and self-respect for its members.

Reviews

An exciting and moving film that has something to say to everyone about women and sports, pain and exhilaration, the individual and society. See it.
Womensports Magazine
Womensports Magazine
A beautiful film that shows how a sports experience can create a whole new lifestyle. This film is useful not only in the field of sports, but as a motivational film raising social consciousness about fellowship and leadership in terms young people will accept and adult audiences will enjoy.
Nolan Lushington
Film News
An excellent film filled with humor, excitement, sensitivity, and human insight.
Tom Foner
Rolling Stone
Documenting a feeling of positive optimism, a sense of "I can" that predicts that those first trophies won at track meets will be just a beginning for these girls, this film will inspire leaders and future leaders.
Booklist
Booklist
The Flashettes endear us with their high spirits and charm, with their openness and determination. This little gem of a movie should be shown to physical fitness folks, urban coalitions, dreamy under-privileged kids and stubborn adults across the country. It is a true celebration... a celebration of possibilities and of youth and hope.
Marjorie Rosen
MS. Magazine
Civic responsibility motivates Andre Beverly to coach an all-girl, multi-age track team in his neighborhood of Bed Stuy. Big-brotherly Beverly, a New York City Health Department employee by day, explains his commitment to his athletes: 'It means they don't have to die in the ghetto.' Twenty minutes of exhilarating, unsentimental uplift, The Flashettes focuses on Beverly's track stars, suited up in cherry-red uniforms, at a meet at Downing Stadium (Home of the New York Cosmos) on Randall's Island. Teenage long-jumpers, sprinters, and middle-distance runners talk of Wilma Rudolph as an inspiration and dream of being the first in their family to go to college, while severely cash-strapped mothers note that the $10 in monthly dues is worth it.
Melissa Anderson
Village Voice

Awards and Screenings

Top 10 Most Notable Film List, American Library Association
Top 10 Films For Children, The New York Times
Francis Scott Key Award, Baltimore Film Festival
First Prize, Jacksonville Film Festival
Staff Prize, Oberhausen Sportsfilmtage, Germany
Cine Golden Eagle
Rotterdam International Film Festival
Athens International Film Festival
American Film Festival
Bellevue Film Festival
First Prize, Stockston State Film Festival
Second Prize, Marin County Film Festival
Prize, Indiana Film Festival
Anthology Film Archives
Museum of Modern Art

Promotional Material

Promotional Stills

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