The next Roger Moore or Ken Burns could be filming an award-winning documentary right now at Villanova University.

Since 2008, students in the Social Justice Documentary Film program have been using film to change our communities, highlighting topics such as illiteracy, poverty, gun violence, and animal abuse.

Last Friday, the student filmmakers premiered a powerful new documentary, Gold Mettle, that shows the joys and struggles faced by Special Olympics athletes and their families, on and off the playing field.

The students attended the premiere alongside the athletes, forming a bond that showed the athletes were embraced as part of the Villanova family.

Each fall, Villanova hosts Fall Festival – one of the largest Special Olympics competitions in the nation – as thousands of athletes, coaches, and volunteers come together to celebrate the culmination of countless months of training, hard work, building friendships, and overcoming challenges both athletic and unique to living with intellectual disabilities.

Ten Villanova students from the Social Justice Documentary Film class followed the Delaware County Special Olympics soccer teams for 15 weeks as the athletes grew and developed toward their ultimate goal of winning a gold medal at the Villanova Fall Festival.

The end result, Gold Mettle, is a short documentary that gives audiences a rare and inspirational look at the daily challenges faced by those with intellectual disabilities and their caregivers, coupled with the tremendous sense of joy, accomplishment, and friendship provided by Special Olympics.

Gold Mettle was screened in the Connelly Center cinema on Villanova’s main campus. More than 80 Special Olympics athletes, family members and friends, including those featured in the film, attended.

Delaware County Councilman John McBlain, a Villanova graduate, honored the student filmmakers with a resolution from Delaware County Council. He recognized professors Stephen McWilliams, John O’Leary, and Matt Marencik, as well as the following students:

• Nick Carney
• Thomas San Nicholas
• Peter Prokop
• Elinor Wright
• Jordan Dillard
• Bradley Ahearn
• Claudia Pascal
• Shirley Cheng
• Jane Vandewegh
• Justin Bullock
• Caroline Foley

“I couldn’t be prouder than I am of Villanova right now,” McBlain said as he presented the Council resolution commending the students on their work to examine social issues in an effort to promote positive chance in our communities.

One of the filmmakers, Nick Carney, has graduated, but returned to campus for the premiere.

“A main goal for this film was to show the world who these athletes truly are, people with spectacular abilities that only need to be unleashed. Special Olympics allows these athletes to be themselves and reach their fullest potential,” said Carney, student director of the film.

“It was a privilege to have the athletes and their families allow us into their lives and tell us their stories. We hope that by opening themselves up to us, their stories will reveal to the world the impact these individuals can have on our lives if they are given the opportunity.”

The documentary opens a window in to the daily lives, activities, and relationships of the athletes, whether at home, work, practice, or spending time with their friends and loved ones.“

Gold Mettle was one of the most satisfying projects that we have worked on in the Social Justice Documentary Film program,” said McWilliams, Director of the Social Justice Documentary Film program. “The relationships formed between the athletes and our students is the great by-product of the filmmaking process. The film demonstrates the power of sport for social change.”

Trish Cofiell, a parent and Special Olympics soccer coach, told the students that it was a 1968 film by Philadelphia reporter Bill Baldini that exposed the deplorable conditions people with disabilities were subject to in a now-closed institution.

Today, she said, these Villanova students continue that great tradition of documentary work to help today’s individuals find acceptance and success in our communities.