Katie Bender (filmmaker)

Katie Bender Wynn
Born (1985-10-05) 5 October 1985
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
OccupationsDocumentary filmmaker, director
Years active2016–present
Websitekatiebenderwynn.com

Katie Bender Wynn (born 5 October 1985) is an Australian documentary filmmaker working across film and television. Her work focuses on sport and athlete-driven storytelling. She is known for directing The Will to Fly (2016), Matildas: The World at Our Feet (2023), and Taurasi (2025).

Early life

Bender Wynn trained as a gymnast before transitioning to freestyle aerial skiing as part of the Australian national program. She attended Methodist Ladies’ College in Melbourne, where she trained at a high-performance gymnastics facility on campus. At the age of 16, she was recruited by the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia into a talent identification program designed to transition gymnasts into aerial skiing.[1]

Career

The Will to Fly

Bender Wynn made her directorial debut with the feature documentary The Will to Fly (2016), which follows Australian Olympic freestyle skier Lydia Lassila. Development on the film began in 2012 after Bender Wynn visited Lassila at a training camp in Utah.[2][3]

The film documents Lassila’s return to competition following the birth of her first child and her preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.[4]

The Will to Fly premiered in Melbourne on 8 March 2016 and was subsequently released theatrically in Australia.[5][6] The film received positive reviews from critics and was described by The Huffington Post Australia as “the most inspirational movie of the year”.[7]

Matildas: The World at Our Feet

In 2023, Bender Wynn directed the Disney+ documentary series Matildas: The World at Our Feet.[8]

The six-part series follows the Australia women’s national soccer team in the lead-up to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.[9][10]

For her work on the series, Bender Wynn was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television.[11]

Taurasi

In 2025, Bender Wynn directed Taurasi, a three-part documentary series about American professional basketball player Diana Taurasi. The series was produced by Skydance Sports, Meadowlark Media, and Institute Pictures, and released on Amazon Prime Video.[12]

The series follows Taurasi’s career, including her early life in California, her collegiate career at the University of Connecticut, and her professional career in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), as well as her international playing career.[13][14]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Matildas: The World at Our Feet
Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2024 AACTA Award Best Documentary or Factual Program Matildas: The World at Our Feet Nominated
2024 AACTA Award Best Direction in Nonfiction Television Matildas: The World at Our Feet Nominated
2024 Logie Awards Best Factual and Documentary Program Matildas: The World at Our Feet Nominated
The Will to Fly
Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2016 Whistler Film Festival Best World Documentary Award The Will to Fly Won
2016 Whistler Film Festival Best Mountain Culture Film Award The Will to Fly Won
2016 Alliance of Women Film Journalists EDA Award for Best Female-Directed Documentary The Will to Fly Nominated
2016 APRA AMCOS Awards Australia APRA AMCOS award for Best Music in Documentary The Will to Fly Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "The Will to Fly director Katie Bender takes aerial skiing to the big screen". Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Bizzaca, Caris. "With her history in women's sport, aerial skier turned filmmaker Katie Bender became the perfect person to tell Lydia Lassila's inspirational story". Screen Australia: The Screen Blog. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Victorian creative team Katie Bender and Leo Baker are soaring to great heights with their project The Will to Fly, released nationally on 10 March". Film Victoria Australia. Film Victoria. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Saurine, Angela. "Winter Olympian Lydia Lassila stars in new ski film The Will To Fly". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  5. ↑ Hall, Sandra. "The Will to Fly review: inside the elite world of aerial skiing". Sydney Morning Herald / The Age. Fairfax media. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  6. ↑ Paatsch, Leigh. "The Will To Fly is a surprisingly compelling story of triumph". Herald Sun. News Corp. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  7. ↑ Sharwood, Anthony (12 March 2016). "The Will To Fly Featuring Australian Aerial Skier Lydia Lassila Is The Most Inspirational Movie of the Year". HuffPost. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  8. ↑ "Disney+ shares first look at six-part docuseries, Matildas: The World at Our Feet". Media Week. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "'Matildas: World At Our Feet' (Trailer)". Media Week. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  10. ↑ "A New Six-Part Series Follows The Matildas On Their Journey Towards The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023". Marie Claire Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  11. ↑ "Home-Grown Australian Storytelling for Disney+ "The Clearing" and "Matildas: The World at Our Feet" Receive Seven AACTA Award Nominations". Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  12. ↑ "Diana Taurasi Docuseries Set at Amazon Prime Video Following WNBA Star and Olympic Gold Medalist's Life and Career (EXCLUSIVE)". Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  13. ↑ "Diana Taurasi documentary covers Chino childhood to Olympic snub". Retrieved 7 August 2025.
  14. ↑ "7 Sports Documentaries to Stream Now". Retrieved 23 January 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.