The Gymnast

Charlotte
Glynn

(USA)
 Selected filmography: Rachel Is (2010), The Immaculate Reception (2013), Jewish Girls Are Easy (2014)

Sixteen-year-old Monica is determined – she wants to represent the USA at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Gymnastics is her life and dream, shared with her father, who has sacrificed everything for her. A sudden accident abruptly ends her ambitions, and the world she built collapses in an instant. In Pittsburgh, marked by industrial decline and working-class uncertainty, her tragedy becomes part of a wider reality. Monica and her father must face a new reality, where hope for a better future turns into a question of how to meet daily challenges. Charlotte Glynn’s debut, shown in Rotterdam’s main competition, relies on authenticity and a natural style, capturing fragile moments when life suddenly shifts. It is a quiet yet powerful story of lost dreams, family bonds, and finding a new path in a world where certainty can vanish in a single day.