Film Special: I, Tonya

Together with ESN-Rotterdam, we invite you to our monthly filmnight.

We will be screening I, Tonya, loosely based on the true story of figure skater Tonya Harding.

More information:
The talented American figure skater Tonya Harding hopes to win a gold medal during the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. It is however an event of a completely different order that really puts her in the spotlight. When her rival Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured, fingers are soon pointed at Harding and her shady friends.

In this tragicomic biographical drama, we see a telling picture of a talented sportswoman who had always been at a disadvantage since her childhood. Her roots in lower-class America, her hard-as-nails mother (Allison Janny who whon the Oscar for best actress in a supporting role) and her own sharp tongue make her a strange figure on the ice.

The Australian Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, 2007) elects for a framework within which characters look back on the striking events in documentary-like interviews. That provides authentic-looking scenes. The vicissitudes of these larger-than-life characters, performed by an excellent cast, are aptly accompanied by a memorable soundtrack that includes music by Doris Day, Fleetwood Mac and Siouxsie and the Banshees.