List of Summer Olympic documentary films
This is a list of documentary films for individual Summer Olympic Games which feature actual competition footage.[1] [2] [3] An Olympic Film Collection of the IOC Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage (OFCH) includes fifty feature-length films providing a chronicle of the modern Olympic Games.[4] [5] A collection of many Official films was restored ,[6] and released as a 2017 home video box set under the title 100 Years of Olympic Films: 1912–2012 .[7] “Official” films are those which have been arranged by the host city organizing committee and produced in compliance with the International Olympic Committee charter .[8] Listed Olympiad numbers have discontinuities due to cancelled games.
Other than still photography, no Olympic competitions were filmed prior to 1906.[9]
Summer Olympic documentary films
#
Games
Film Title
Released
Director
Notes
-
Athens 1906
Jeux olympiques d'Athènes
1906
Pathé Frères
[10]
4
London 1908
Olympic Games In London
1908
British Pathé
[11] [12] Film ID:1824.12
5
Stockholm 1912
The Games of the V Olympiad Stockholm, 1912
1912
Adrian Wood
[13]
7
Antwerp 1920
Olympiade in Antwerpen
1920
[14]
8
Paris 1924
The Olympic Games in Paris, 1924
1924
Jean de Rovéra
[13]
9
Amsterdam 1928
The Olympic Games, Amsterdam 1928
1928
Wilhelm Prager, Jules Perel
[13]
The IX Olympiad in Amsterdam
1928
Istituto Luce
10
Los Angeles 1932
1932 Olympic Games
1932
Pathé News
[15]
Fox Movietone News #92-95
1932
Edmund Reek
[16]
Hearst Metrotone News #290-293
1932
Hearst Metrotone News
Paramount News #1-4
1932
Paramount News
[17]
Universal Newspaper Newsreel #64-67
1932
Universal Newsreel
11
Berlin 1936
Olympia
1938
Leni Riefenstahl
[18]
14
London 1948
XIVth Olympiad: The Glory of Sport
1948
Castleton Knight
[13] joint film also covering the 1948 Winter Olympics
15
Helsinki 1952
Olympia 52
1952
Chris Marker
[19]
Where the World Meets
1952
Hannu Leminen
Official
Gold and Glory
1953
Hannu Leminen
Official
16
Melbourne 1956
Olympic Games 1956
1956
Peter Whitchurch
[13]
Freedom's Fury
2006
Colin Keith Gray , Megan Raney Aarons
[20]
17
Rome 1960
The Grand Olympics
1961
Romolo Marcellini
[21]
18
Tokyo 1964
Tokyo Olympiad
1965
Kon Ichikawa
[13]
19
Mexico 1968
The Olympics in Mexico
1969
Alberto Isaac
[13]
Salute
2008
Matt Norman
[22]
20
Munich 1972
Visions of Eight
1973
Miloš Forman , Kon Ichikawa , Claude Lelouch , Yuri Ozerov , Arthur Penn , Michael Pfleghar , John Schlesinger , Mai Zetterling
[13]
One Day in September
1999
Kevin Macdonald
[23]
21
Montreal 1976
Games of the XXI Olympiad
1977
Jean Beaudin , Marcel Carrière , Georges Dufaux
[13]
The Last Gold
2016
Brian Brown
[13]
22
Moscow 1980
O Sport, You Are Peace!
1981
Yuri Ozerov
[13]
23
Los Angeles 1984
16 Days of Glory
1986
Bud Greenspan
[13]
24
Seoul 1988
Seoul 1988
1988
Lee Kwang-Soo
[13]
25
Barcelona 1992
Marathon
1993
Carlos Saura
[13]
26
Atlanta 1996
Atlanta's Olympic Glory
1997
Bud Greenspan
[13]
27
Sydney 2000
Sydney 2000, Stories of Olympic Glory
2001
Bud Greenspan
[13]
28
Athens 2004
Bud Greenspan's Athens 2004: Stories of Olympic Glory
2005
Bud Greenspan
[13]
29
Beijing 2008
The Everlasting Flame
2010
Gu Jun
[13]
30
London 2012
First
2012
Caroline Rowland
[13]
Gun to Tape
2012
David Forbes
[24]
31
Rio 2016
Days of Truce
2017
Breno Silveira
[13]
See also
References
^ Wallechinsky, David (2019) "Olympic Films: From the Beginning to Riefenstahl's Berlin Docudrama"; "Olympic Films 1948-1960: Serious Event Coverage with Touches of Sexism and Racism"; "Olympic Films 1964-1984: Troubled Times and Troubled Films Mixed with Excellent Exceptions" Journal of Olympic History #27 International Society of Olympic Historians
^ Wallechinsky, David (2020) “Olympic Films 1988-1996: New Political Realities, New Cinematic Styles” Journal of Olympic History #28 International Society of Olympic Historians
^ Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D. (2004) Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement Greenwood Press Appendix C: Olympic Films
^ Official films at Olympics.com
^ sportsheritage.org
^ 2019 Award from Association of Moving Image Archivists
^ Fristoe, Roger (2021) "100 YEARS of OLYMPIC FILMS" at Turner Classic Movies
^ Introduction of the Olympic Official Films at beijing2022.cn
^ Downing, Taylor (2012) The Olympics on Film History Today Volume 62 Issue 8 August 2012
^ The Olympic Games at Athens, Greece (1906) IMDB
^ Sugden, John Peter and Tomlinson, Alan (2012) [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Watching_the_Olympics/7c9JaG-8oOMC?hl=en&pg=PA109
Watching the Olympics: Politics, Power and Representation ] Routledge ISBN 9780415578332 p109
^ Olympic Games In London (1908) British Pathé
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Official Films" . International Olympic Committee . Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^ Olympiade in Antwerpen (1920) Musea Stad Antwerpen
^ 1932 Olympic Games Pathé News
^ Motion Picture Herald p46
^ Motion Picture Herald p48
^ Otto, Elizabeth (2021-09-30), "Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi Neoclassicism: Olympia (1938)" , A Modernist Cinema , Oxford University Press, pp. 260–279, doi :10.1093/oso/9780199379453.003.0015 , ISBN 978-0-19-937945-3 , retrieved 2024-04-23
^ "Olympia 52" . Harvard Film Archive . 2013-11-03. Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^ Krastev, Nikola (2012-02-02). "Hungary: New Film Revisits 1956 Water-Polo Showdown" . Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty . Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^ Mallon, Bill (1984). The Olympics: A Bibliography . Garland Pub. ISBN 978-0-8240-8926-9 .
^ Bradshaw, Peter (2012-07-12). "Salute – review" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^ Bradshaw, Peter (2000-05-19). "One Day in September" . The Guardian . ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-04-23 .
^ "Top 10 Olympic movies to watch when you're stuck at home" . International Olympic Committee . 2020-04-20. Retrieved 2024-04-23 .