Tribeca alum Erin Lee Carr’s At the Heart of Gold outlines the modern USA Gymnastics apparatus, from Svengalian husband-and-wife coaching team Bela and Martha Karolyi as rulers of a severe training camp to the countless officials, like those at Michigan State University, who enabled and covered up the sexual abuse of hundreds of young women by USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar. Through detailed archival footage, revealing first-person interviews with key players, and excerpts of the heartbreaking victim impact statements delivered by 150 women in Michigan state Judge Rosemarie Aquilina’s court during Nassar’s trial, the film serves as an indictment of the systematic consumption of the labor of young women for the benefit of powerful adults and a corrupt institution.

The narrative centers around current and former gymnasts who trained, competed, and won titles and medals, and bolstered the coffers of USA Gymnastics. At the Heart of Gold follows the money and it leads to the abuse of the bodies of young girls deemed disposable. But the films also highlights their efforts to fight back and earn the most important title of their lives: survivor.

—Felix Endara

Directed by

Erin Lee Carr