I made a movie!

With a whole lot of help. And you can watch it now!

Subscribers who have followed this newsletter since its early days may recall my mentioning last August that I had started work on a short documentary film about six members of San Francisco’s Dolphin Club, all over 70, who were training to become the oldest American relay team ever to swim the English Channel.

Here’s what I wrote back then:

And here’s the update:

The relay team — the “Old Goats” — successfully crossed the Channel, beginning in Dover, England, in darkness, and finishing near Calais, France, on a sunlit afternoon. Each team member swam at least two one-hour legs; some swam three legs. Official time: 15 hours, 9 minutes.

I’m happy to report that I succeeded, too.

The finished film, 21 Miles, 12 Feet, and 439 Years: The Old Goats and the English Channel¹, had its world premiere on May 22 before a standing-room-only audience — at least 150 people — at the Dolphin Club.

Now you get to see the film, too. But first: a short flashback.

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I’d had a lot of storytelling experience as a journalist and copywriter, but before undertaking this project I was a complete novice at filmmaking.² Fortunately, fellow Dolphin Club member Sharon Wong answered my call for volunteers.

Sharon, a recently retired professional film editor, was a little taken aback to learn that we’d be working exclusively with footage shot by amateurs on their phones, but she gamely rose to the challenge. (We also got to use some terrific drone photography shot by another club member, Phil Reiff.)

Together Sharon and I interviewed the team members, crafted storylines, found music tracks, and revised, revised, revised.

I wrote the text and the title and made sure each team member got his or her say.

Working solo, Sharon did the intricate work of piecing the film together.

Here’s the result.

It was a privilege and a pleasure to tell this story of teamwork, perseverance, and age-defying athleticism. If you enjoyed it, click over to YouTube and leave an upvote and a comment.

1. 21 miles: the approximate distance of the swim. 12 feet: belonging to six swimmers. 439 years: the swimmers’ aggregate age.

2. I had originally envisioned the story as a piece of print journalism, but nearly every outlet I pitched turned me down or simply didn’t respond. An exception was the San Francisco Standard. Read the story.