Race

Race is a 2016 biographical sports drama film about African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who won a record-breaking four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Directed by Stephen Hopkins and written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, the film stars Stephan James as Owens, and co-stars Jason Sudeikis, Jeremy Irons, William Hurt and Carice van Houten. It is a co-production of Canada, Germany and France. Principal photography began on 24 July 2014, in Montreal, Canada. Forecast Pictures, Solofilms and Trinity Race produced the film, supported by the Owens family, the Jesse Owens Foundation, the Jesse Owens Trust and the Luminary Group. The film was a commercial success and received mixed to positive reviews, winning four Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Actor for James. Plot In 1933, Jesse Owens attends Ohio State University; the first in his family to attend college. He faces racial discrimination from some white athletes. Coach Larry Snyder, a former Olympic-level athlete, believes Owens has enormous potential but needs work on his form and technique. When Snyder suggests he is good enough to compete at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Owens is interested, but hesitant because of racial propaganda in Nazi Germany. The U.S. Olympic Committee is already considering boycotting the Olympics over Germany's discriminatory policies, agreeing to participate only when Nazi official Joseph Goebbels gives assurances that athletes of any race will be allowed compete, as well as promising to rein in their propaganda. As Owens struggles to support his girlfriend Ruth and young daughter, he takes a job at a service station, upsetting Snyder when his job conflicts with his commitment to train. When Snyder learns Owens has a family to support, he gets him a no-show job, allowing him to focus on running. Owens goes on to break several records, including some of Snyder's, and begins a relationship with a flashy woman whose attentions he attracts with his newfound fame. When Ruth threatens him with a lawsuit, Owens becomes distracted and loses a race to runner Eulace Peacock. Owens decides to return to Ruth to reconcile, convincing her to marry him. As the Olympics draw closer, the NAACP asks him not to go to Berlin for political reasons. Owens is conflicted, but Peacock, now injured, urges him to compete to defy Nazi racial ideology.