‘Try!’ Director on His Sports Doc That Is a “Trojan Horse for a Film About People and Their Abilities”

Winning isn’t everything! Giving it your all and basking in the sense of community is! That’s one of the lessons you may walk away with after watching a new documentary about four Irish rugby teams that defy stereotypes to tackle their way to the Mixed Ability Rugby World Cup. Step onto the pitch for Try!, a mix of full-contact action, joy and belonging.

The new doc from Irish director Oisín Mistéil about the sport, which is full-contact rugby played by people with and without physical and learning disabilities, world premieres in the People & Community strand of the Sheffield DocFest on Saturday, June 13.

Try! follows four Irish teams, from frozen winter training nights to the heat of World Cup competition in Spain, where 32 teams from 16 countries go head to head. “The competition is real, the tackles are hard and the celebrations are harder,” highlights a synopsis. “What emerges is a portrait of a world where inclusion isn’t an aspiration but the starting point, where belonging is built through shared mud, bruises and tries.”

In Try!, you can follow players finding community in a sport that refuses to leave anyone on the sidelines, changing what the sport looks like and who gets to be on the pitch.