In the Game

“No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

— Title IX (1972)

In the Game, a documentary film produced by Kartemquin Films with Director Maria Finitzo, will examine Title IX’s impact not just on the playing fields but also in the political, social and cultural landscape of our country. It has been 39 years since Title IX became law and, while women and girls now participate in sports in numbers unimaginable in the 1970’s, the promise of equity is still contested. To understand how and why this is happening, In the Game will follow two sports teams…the WNBA Chicago Sky, a team of professional women athletes and the Kelly High School Trojans, an inner city girls’ soccer team. In a third story we’ll follow high school journalists, young women of color, using new media tools as they investigate Title IX noncompliance in Chicago area high schools.

Through all of our stories, In the Game will show how participation in sports can represent power from small town life to the national stage, from the boardroom to Capitol Hill. We will explore how sports can be life transforming or be used to maintain social injustices. For when it comes to equal opportunity, despite all we have done since the passage of Title IX, we are a long way from finished. To be sure In the Game is film about sports. But it is also a film about how our democracy struggles to achieve equality.