Victoria’s Foil, Film by Columbia Journalism School Reporting Fellow Alums, Airs on PBS

Country:

United states

Media:

Article

Authors:

Brett Forrest
2020 Reporting Fellow

Brian Ryu
2020 Reporting Fellow

Behind the scenes while filming "Victoria's Foil." Image courtesy of Brett Forrest and Brian Ryu. United States, 2020.

English

Victoria Isaacson, a 22-year-old wheelchair fencer, is trying to qualify for the Paralympics while...

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An image of Victoria. — When 22-year old Victoria Isaacson discovered she had a degenerative disease, she turned her love of fencing into an all-out effort to become a Paralympic athlete, competing in a wheelchair. Now that a worldwide pandemic threatens her dream of making Team USA, Isaacson is once again coming up with a new plan to shape a future much different from the one she planned. Image courtesy of Brett Forrest and Brian Ryu. United States, 2020.

This was originally published on May 10th and updated on July 26th.

The short documentary Victoria’s Foil, created by 2020 Columbia University Reporting Fellows Brett Forrest and Brian Ryu will air on two more PBS-affiliate stations in the Rocky Mountains and Reno.

Victoria's Foil aired on Rocky Mountains PBS on June 6, 2021. It will air again on Reno PBS on August 29, 2021. It originally premiered on the PBS-affiliate station Connecticut Public Television May 2, 2021.

Victoria’s Foil follows 22-year-old Victoria Isaacson, a Paralympic fencer, as she trains day in and day out to achieve her dreams while working a full-time job at a horse ranch to sustain the increasing burden of debt that comes with Olympic aspirations. All of this comes to a crashing halt when the COVID-19 pandemic causes the cancellation of her final wheelchair fencing qualifiers.

More information about future showings on Reno Public Television can be found here.