Helen | Believe | Feature Documentary Film

Not since David vs Goliath has an underdog defeated such an immovable foe. Helen Maroulis was 23 years old, competing in her first Olympic Games. RIO x2016. She had never qualified before and she didn’t event make Team USA in 2012. Incredibly, she made it to the gold medal match. Her opponent was Saori Yoshida, a 13X World Champion, undefeated for over FOUR STRAIGHT YEARS and the most decorated wrestler of ALL TIME.
Everyone knew that Helen would be settling for the the silver medal, everyone except Helen... On August 16, 2016, Helen shocked the world and defeated Saori Yoshida 4-1 to become the first American woman to win a Gold Medal in wrestling. Ever.

At the 2017 World Championships, Helen asserted her dominance again, shutting out her competition 52 - 0, earning the title... BEST POUND FOR POUND WRESTLER IN THE WORLD. Helen is unbeatable...

Until INDIA, 2018. Mid match, her head collides into her opponent’s. It’s a devastating concussion. She finished wrestling the tournament, leading to traumatic brain injury. She’s forced into the dark, into solitude. She develops depression, an anxiety disorder and long lasting pain, which led to early retirement. Life as she knew it will never be the same.

This is where our story begins.

After a year and a half off the mat, soul searching, seeking medical specialists amidst a global pandemic, Helen has been cleared to compete. Her goal - a history-making second gold medal in Tokyo 2021.
Our film traces her historic comeback to beat the new crop of elite wrestlers who’ve trained for four years to do one thing: beat Helen Maroulis.

Armed with a whole new outlook on life, we tracked Helen’s dramatic Olympic Trials win, a brutal, confidence shattering string of losses at The Poland Open two months before the Olympics, her journey of self- discovery at her final training camp in Arizona, all leading up to The Tokyo Olympics, where Helen rediscovered herself and made history yet again.

This is a story about losing yourself and the long journey back to self- discovery - to belief, confidence, passion and hope all after a series of setbacks few could ever return from - all told through the lens of America’s first female Olympic gold medalist wrestler and her quest to defend her title at the Tokyo Olympics.