EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired U.S. rights for sports biopic Vindication Swim.
The drama recounts the true story of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel, and her fight for equality and recognition.
The film, which enjoyed an 18-week run in UK cinemas in 2024, will make its U.S. debut with a limited theatrical release in New York City on October 17 2025 and in L.A. on October 24, 2025, with additional markets to follow.
It will then be made available from November 18, 2025 to rent/own on all North American digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms, as well as on DVD.
Gleitze became the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. Battling unforgiving seas, societal expectations, and relentless challenges, she was also celebrated as a symbol of resilience.
However, her achievement was questioned by skeptics, forcing her into a fight for recognition and to embark on a second grueling attempt to swim the English Channel, which became known as her “vindication swim”.
Highlighting the beauty and peril of open water swimming and the obstacles women continue to face in the pursuit of equality, Vindication Swim has been praised for its vivid portrait of Gleitze as a pioneering trailblazer for women’s open water swimming around the world.
The film was written and directed by Elliott Hasler. Producers are Simon Hasler, Sally Humphreys-Wood, and Douglas McJannet. Nicola Pearcey, Matt Pearcey, Kirsten Callaghan, and Mike Green served as executive producers.
The cast includes Kirsten Callaghan as Gleitze alongside John Locke, Victoria Summer, James Wilby, and Douglas Hodge.
“Making Vindication Swim was an incredibly demanding but deeply rewarding experience,” said filmmaker Hasler.
“Over the course of three years, we shot all the swimming sequences in the English Channel itself. No water tanks, no green screens, no body doubles. Just raw, honest filmmaking. That authenticity was essential to us. It was our way of honouring Mercedes Gleitze’s extraordinary courage and determination, ensuring her story was told with the grit and truth it deserves.”
Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire Vindication Swim directly with the filmmakers and Marc Bikindou of Brilliant Pictures.
