Dreams are important – though if your dream is to be the youngest person to sail around the world, it might set off a year-long court battle. That’s what happened to Laura Dekker but she went on to achieve that dream.
Maidentrip is the story of Dekker’s amazing adventure – not just sailing around the world, but stopping to explore and enjoy the world. The film is Jillian Schlesinger’s debut as a documentary filmmaker and opens on January 17, 2014 at the IFC Center in New York. Check out the trailer and press release following the jump.
First Run Features Presents
MAIDENTRIP A FILM BY JILLIAN SCHLESINGER OPENING ON JANUARY 17TH AT THE IFC CENTER IN NEW YORK
WINNER – Visions Audience Award at SXSW Film Festival 2013
WINNER – Festival Director’s Award at Mountainfilm in Telluride 2013
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2013
OFFICIAL SELECTION – HOTDOCS Film Festival 2013
NOMINEE – Audience Award, 2013 Gotham Independent Film Awards
"It’s impossible to watch Maidentrip and not want to immediately start scheming your own audacious adventure."
-Outside Magazine
"While Maidentrip is a remarkable tale of accomplishment, it is more so a celebration of the incredible promise of youth. "
-Ryland Aldrich, Twitch
"This inspirational true story vibrantly captures the personality of its determined Dutch protagonist, Laura Dekker."
-Peter DeBruge, VARIETY
Directed, produced and shot by a team of young female filmmakers, the new highly acclaimed documentary film MAIDENTRIP celebrates the accomplishments of the intrepid young woman Laura Dekker and brings her complex and inspiring real-life story to the big screen.
In 1995 Laura Dekker was born on a boat in the port of Whangarei, New Zealand during her parents’ seven-year voyage around the world on their sailboat. At just six years of age, Laura sailed her own dinghy alone across the lake where she lived. At the age of ten, she took a multi-week trip to Friesland, Netherlands accompanied only by her dog Spot. Then, in 2009, at the age of 13 Laura announced her plans to sail solo around the globe.
After a year-long court battle with Dutch authorities who attempted to stop her voyage and the unwanted global media scrutiny it sparked, 14-year-old Laura Dekker finally set out—camera in hand—on a two-year solo voyage in pursuit of her dream, alone without a follow boat or a support team, on her transformative 27,000 mile global odyssey. During the longest leg of her trip across the Indian Ocean, Laura spent 47 days alone at sea.
Laura’s dream was “to be the youngest ever to sail around the world alone,” but she didn’t want to set a speed record. Instead, she sought to experience the remote and wonderful corners of the planet on her own,stopping to explore along the way.
Jillian Schlesinger’s debut feature film MAIDENTRIP captures Laura’s journey as she explores the world in search of freedom, adventure, and distant dreams of her early youth at sea. Schlesinger’s filmmaking amplifies Laura’s mature, brave and defiant voice through a mix of Laura’s own video and voice recordings from sea and the intimate vérité footage shot at the stunning stops along the route, including the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Australia, and South Africa.
"Jillian Schlesinger’s first feature…is both low-key and lyrical as it focuses on the mundane and the magnificent."
– THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
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Director: Jillian Schlesinger
Producers: Jillian Schlesinger & Emily McAllister
Editor: Penelope Falk
Director of Photography: Hillary Fyfe Spera
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MAIDENTRIP opens at the IFC Center in NY on January 17th!
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Run Time: 81 minutes
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Jillian Schlesinger (Director/Producer) is an independent filmmaker and writer-producer-editor of promotional content for television. Her debut feature documentary, MAIDENTRIP, won an Audience Award at SXSW and the Festival Director’s Award at Mountainfilm in Telluride.
Jillian has previously worked in various roles on documentaries, including writing, story development, and archival research. She has also written, produced, and edited numerous onair promotions for television networks, including AMC, Sundance Channel, and BBC America.
Her work on Sundance Channel’s Dysfunctional Family Thanksgiving earned a 2010 PromaxBDA Award in the "Something for Nothing" category. Jillian graduated from Brown University, where she studied creative writing and linguistic anthropology. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Photos courtesy of First Run Features