Young Woman and the Sea

Young Woman and the Sea (2024) — watch online the true story of Trudy Ederle, directed by Joachim Rønning and starring Daisy Ridley. In August 1926, Trudy became the first woman to make it across the English Channel — 21 miles of cold Atlantic water — and she did it faster than any of the five men who had completed the crossing before her.

The film traces her path from a scrappy kid swimming in the Hudson to Olympic gold in Paris in 1924, and then to the obsession that most of the sporting press dismissed outright. Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays her older sister Margaret, the one person who never stopped believing. Steven Graham is the trainer who backs her when no established coach will. Christopher Eccleston plays a journalist waiting for the failure he's already written the headline for. Walt Disney Pictures released the film in May 2024.

Rønning shot much of the channel crossing in actual open water, and at 129 minutes the film earns its runtime — by the time Trudy hits the France coastline, you feel every mile of what she's trying to do. Stream Young Woman and the Sea online on iFILM.