Portfolio
Olympic Stories Across the games
Inspired by the profound cultural impact the 2010 Winter Olympics had on Vancouver, Storyhero Media has spent the past decade producing socially conscious, thought-provoking video journalism exploring the intersection of the Olympic Games and human rights.
Far from offering a one-dimensional critique, our Olympic storytelling brings people together from around the world to better understand the social and cultural impact of the Games—through the voices of locals, underdogs, and often overlooked communities. These stories span moments of protest and resistance alongside powerful expressions of humanity, resilience, and celebration.
Our Olympic portfolio includes CBC-published video segments from London 2012, an internationally screened documentary filmed at Sochi 2014, a six-part video reporting series from Rio 2016, two commissioned films shot in PyeongChang 2018, and a series of athlete-profile videos celebrating UBC Olympians, filmed at Paris 2024.
Paris 2024
At Paris 2024, we partnered with the University of British Columbia to capture a powerful interview series featuring Team Canada Olympians who came through UBC. Each conversation explores the journey from campus to the world stage, highlighting the moments, mentors, and experiences at UBC that helped prepare these Olympians for their defining Olympic moment.
At Paris 2024, we partnered with the University of British Columbia to capture a powerful interview series featuring Team Canada Olympians who came through UBC. Each conversation explores the journey from campus to the world stage, highlighting the moments, mentors, and experiences at UBC that helped prepare these Olympians for their defining Olympic moment.
At Paris 2024, we partnered with the University of British Columbia to capture a powerful interview series featuring Team Canada Olympians who came through UBC. Each conversation explores the journey from campus to the world stage, highlighting the moments, mentors, and experiences at UBC that helped prepare these Olympians for their defining Olympic moment.
At Paris 2024, we partnered with the University of British Columbia to capture a powerful interview series featuring Team Canada Olympians who came through UBC. Each conversation explores the journey from campus to the world stage, highlighting the moments, mentors, and experiences at UBC that helped prepare these Olympians for their defining Olympic moment.
PyeongChang 2018
Mount Gariwang: An Olympic Casualty is a film about Sport, Politics, the Environment and why a 500-year old ancient forest was bulldozed for a 2-week event at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018. This 24-minute documentary film was produced in collaboration with UBC’s Centre for Sport & Sustainability.
The trailer to a documentary film about sport, politics, the environment, and Mount Gariwang, the mountain casualty of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games in South Korea.
Everyone deserves safe reproductive healthcare. With all eyes on South Korea for the biggest sporting event in the world in 2018, we headed to Seoul to find out about the shocking scandals that have people demanding change. Special thanks to Lunapads (now called Aisle) and Korea Exposé for their collaboration on this project!
Raw, Engaging, Authentic and Local; R.E.A.L Rio is a grassroots project initiated by Storyhero Media in 2016 that took viewers outside the official Olympic venues and into the heart of local communities during the Rio Olympics. This was done through a 6-part video series of short stories that weaves Rio de Janeiro’s vibrant history, art, culture and politics.
RIO 2016
Morro da Providencia is Brazil’s first hilltop community to be called a “favela” But when the Olympics came to town, this community of 20,000 residents was as good as “out of sight, out of mind.” But the hill in the centre of Rio de Janeiro houses a little secret that’s putting smiles on the faces of those who call the community “casa.”
Just outside Maracanã stadium, where the opening of the 2016 Rio Summer Games took place, about 1000 protesters rallied against mega-event overspending and for better public services. While demonstrations were mostly peaceful, the latter portion was punctuated by stun grenades and tear gas “There were hundreds of police, there was a cavalry, there were helicopters. It was very intimidating.” Thanks to Arman Kazemi and Theresa Williams of RioOnWatch.org for being our eyes and ears on the ground.
With the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics now a thing of the past, it’s time to take stock of the promised legacies the games have left behind. We start with the LGBT community, which, in spite of Brazil’s welcoming reputation, is marked by one of the highest death rates in the world. How included did members of #Rio‘s gay community feel in what was dubbed the “inclusion games.”
SOCHI 2014
The Sochi 2014 Olympics will be remembered for a lot of things. Corruption. Overblown budgets. Poor infrastructure. And Putin’s pride. It will also be remembered for months of international protest after Russia’s contentious decision to ban gay rights. Fuelled by his passion for the Olympics, Vancouver journalist Jordan Wade travels to Sochi to witness first-hand the most controversial games of our generation. Through interactions with athletes, academics, activists and Russian citizens, this film explores the evolution of the gay rights movement, the IOC’s role as a global facilitator, and the interplay of the Olympics and human rights. A dark moment in history – but perhaps a turning point for the Olympic movement.
LONDON 2012
Storyhero journalist Jordan Wade traveled to London in 2012 to capture the cultural buzz of the London Games. This was one of the stories he co-produced for CBC; The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad drew 25,000 artists from around the world to take part in music, theatre, multimedia and visual arts events across Britain. But as Jordan Wade reports, it plays second fiddle to sports throughout the Games themselves. Wade talks to organizer Jenny Waldman about how tying arts events to sports enhances the experience of the Olympic Games and interviews British artists who brought their Brazilian counterparts to this years’ festivities for a taste of what’s ahead in 2016.
Storyhero journalist Jordan Wade traveled to London in 2012 to capture the cultural buzz of the London Games. This was one of the stories he co-produced for CBC; London’s Brixton neighborhood used to be one of the city’s poorest, with a very high unemployment and deplorable crime rate in the 1980s and 1990s. As recently as 2011, there were riots in the borough, an echo of disturbances in 1985 and 1995. However, as the multicultural neighborhood greets the London Games as well as the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence, there is an air of optimism and a new prosperity in Brixton. Wade talks to community leaders, and visiting Canadians, about the cultural revival.
Storyhero journalist Jordan Wade traveled to London in 2012 to capture the cultural buzz of the London Games. This was one of the stories he co-produced for CBC; The real Stonehenge is an ancient religious site, seen as evidence of the culture of ancient Britain. Sacrilege is a completely different take on the Unesco World Heritage monument. The work by artist Jeremy Deller, a former winner of the Turner Prize, is traveling Britain and you can do much more than touch it. In fact, you can bounce on it. Jordan Wade reports on how the Cultural Olympiad is bringing Stonehenge to the people.
Part 1 of UBC Master of Journalism student Jordan Wade’s London 2012 Video Blog for UBC Events;
Welcome to London 2012!
Part 1 of UBC Master of Journalism student Jordan Wade’s London 2012 Video Blog for UBC Events;
Featuring UBC Alumni Working at the Olympics!