KICK
New York City, New York | Film Feature
LGBTQ, Sport
Nikki Hiltz, America’s fastest 1500m runner, is on the brink of making history at the highest level of sport. As they chase excellence, Nikki grapples with the challenge of embracing their trans nonbinary identity while competing in a world that demands conformity.
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$68,430
Goal: $50,000 for post-production
Nikki Hiltz, America’s fastest 1500m runner, is on the brink of making history at the highest level of sport. As they chase excellence, Nikki grapples with the challenge of embracing their trans nonbinary identity while competing in a world that demands conformity.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
It’s cool in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tall pines stretch towards the sky as a hawk cries out from above. A runner’s pastel shoe grinds into the path as their breath grows faster, sharper. Somewhere ahead, a man shouts — harsh but encouraging: “Pick it up, Nikki!”
At nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, the air is almost hostile — and this is Nikki’s seventieth mile of the week. But it’s all in service of a dream, a compulsion, to do something never done before:
Nikki could be the first openly trans runner to ever compete at the Olympics.
Magnetic, goofy, and fiercely competitive, Nikki Hiltz sees themself as “just a track nerd with a dream.” But since coming out as trans nonbinary, they’ve been embroiled in a culture-consuming battle about fairness and inclusivity in sports. As Nikki forges ahead toward their goal of becoming the first out trans runner to compete at the Olympics, they weigh their need to transition, a possible disqualifier, with pursuing their athletic dreams.
Nikki’s partner Emma is Gen Z, sassy, and also an elite runner – she’s the outspoken fighter to Nikki’s conflict-avoidant uniter. Emma was the first out athlete at BYU. She’s had to fight harder to be accepted, brandishing a “fuck the haters” mindset.
Rooted in present-day vérité, the film begins with Nikki and Emma at home amidst a grueling training schedule. We learn how Nikki’s Olympic dream was crushed last cycle after a torrent of hate infiltrated their focus, undermining their confidence. We also meet Nikki's fiercest rivals, who are expected to sweep the Olympic team.
As competition begins, Nikki is running better than ever. They meet with a sports psychiatrist about their gender dysphoria and research options for gender-affirming care. Nikki and their family reflect on their childhood and struggles coming out. Nikki loses to their biggest rival one month before the Olympic Trials by four seconds, a seemingly insurmountable gap.
One week to Trials, and tensions are high – Nikki and Emma have one of their biggest fights. Isolated in Flagstaff, Arizona, Nikki and Emma only have each other, and with that codependence comes heightened pressure.
At Trials, Nikki enters the arena and the crowd erupts. They run the race of their life, setting a record. Nikki crosses the finish line and collapses with joy, tears, disbelief. They're an Olympian.
In Paris, Nikki and Emma explore the city and attend the opening ceremony. Nikki doesn’t medal, but they make history as the first trans runner to compete at the Olympics. We culminate with a decision by Nikki that will change their future forever.
Since wrapping filming at the end 2024, our edit has gotten off to a running start! With over 200 hours of verité footage to comb through, we are officially making our way towards a full rough cut (aka first draft) of the film by the end of June.
From there, we need to refine the cut to get it ready to submit to top-tier festivals by September 2025.
That’s where you come in: the goal of this campaign is to get this movie festival-ready. With your support, we can pay our editor, composer, sound and color engineers, and graphics team in order to submit the strongest version of the film to the world’s best festivals! And from there, to your TV :)
This $50,000 will be critical in enabling us to:
- Keep up our editorial momentum - We’ve got a rough draft of the film. With your support, we can get it festival-ready!
- Key Pick Up Shoot with Nikki - Nikki’s journey isn’t over yet. We have one more shoot to get the perfect ending scene for our film.
- Music Composition - With your help, we can bring on a composer to create our film’s unique sound.
- Graphic Treatments - Joining our team will allow us to bring on a motion graphics artist to create the film’s main titles.
- Color Correction and Sound Mix - Color and sound correction change everything. Emma’s cheers and cries will be drowned out by crowd noise without your help!
As of June 13th, we are at 100% of our goal!! We have been so humbled and grateful by everyone’s participation and generosity in getting us this far. The $50,000 we’ve raised with your help will cover essential expenses to get the film to a fine cut. THANK YOU ALL!
But we're not done yet--with two weeks left in our campaign, we're stretching our goal to get KICK further toward the finish. We're now doubling our goal with the hope of reaching $100,000 by the end of pride month.
If we get to $100,000: We will be able to cover additional edit weeks to get the film to picture lock--essentially a final draft!!! And we can put more money towards our archival and music licensing costs (sports footage is expensive!)
Let’s see how far we can run!
Nikki’s story offers a nuanced, humanized, sometimes surprising view of a trans athlete, standing in stark contrast to our sensationalized media echo chambers. Our vision for KICK is to approach the film as a coming-of-age story of an athlete as they prepare for the race of their life. Through this lens, Nikki’s story has far-reaching appeal and universality.
And now in particular, this approach is critical. Transgender people are under unprecedented attack, with sports at the forefront. Nikki’s story invites curiosity around deeply held convictions about gender in sports. Through Nikki, audiences will get to know a trans athlete as a human first. Expanding our understanding and empathy, KICK has the potential to reframe the conversation nationwide.
This documentary is about chasing medals. But it’s also about:
- Coming of age and into oneself
- Young adults navigating romantic relationships (smut?)
- Chasing your dreams and the sacrifices made along the way
- Challenging preconceived notions of trans athletes
- Encouraging flexible thinking and expansive understanding
- Contribute what you can! No contribution is too small.
- Share the campaign with your networks!
- Join our email list
- Follow us @kickdocumentary on Instagram and TikTok (and Nikki and Emma if you don’t already!)
- Follow us on Seed & Spark to help us unlock rewards
- In honor of Nikki, offer to donation-match $1500 of what we raise.
If you would like to receive a tax break, you can also donate here via our fiscal sponsor, Athlete Ally.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
One last shoot
Costs $15,000
We need an ending! Funds will go towards one final shoot with Nikki to capture some crucial scenes for the end of our film.
Edit
Costs $15,000
Funds will be essential for our editor to get the cut ready to submit to festivals by September 2025
Music Composition
Costs $5,000
Give us a beat. Funds will allow us to bring on a composer to score key scenes for festival submissions.
Graphics
Costs $4,000
Funds will allow us to bring on a motion graphics artist to create the film’s main titles for festival submissions.
Initial Sound Mix and Color Treatment
Costs $10,000
Help us cover the initial costs for sound mixing and color correction to take the film to the next level and get it festival ready.
Grant and Festival Submissions
Costs $1,000
Help us cover the administrative costs for submitting to finishing funds grants and film festivals.
Share this update!
About This Team
NIKKI HILTZ
Nikki Hiltz grew up in the “hippie surfer” town of Santa Cruz. Even as a kid, they had a complicated relationship to their gender. But it wasn’t until a few years ago, after learning the term nonbinary on TikTok, that they came out. The public response was intense, and the resulting scrutiny, confusion, and hate brought Nikki to a new low. But then, it transformed into a desperation to explain themself. Now, Nikki has become a voice for their community, speaking to those “who don’t know or don’t understand— who wonder but are maybe too afraid to ask.” Yet they still want to be seen as an athlete first — and nothing, not even transitioning, will come before their Olympic dream.
EMMA GEE
A Gen Z, blonde, Leo queen, 26-year-old Emma Gee met Nikki via Instagram DM four years ago — and they’ve been inseparable ever since. An elite runner herself, Emma was the first athlete at Brigham Young University to come out as LGBTQ+. She’s had to fight harder and louder to be accepted, brandishing a “fuck the haters” mindset. And as a partner, Emma is fiercely protective of Nikki, always pumping them up and correcting anyone who dares misgender them. Nikki is Emma’s track coach, and they live and train together in Flagstaff, AZ along with their German Shepherd named Scout. Together, they founded and run the annual Pride 5K.
JULIA SCHWALB director/producer
Julia Schwalb is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, creating journalistic, socially conscious, character-driven documentaries. She has produced a variety of projects for broadcast, cinema, and streaming platforms, including Netflix, CNN, Hulu, Discovery, and more. She has filmed across the US, as well as in Zimbabwe, Wales, and Mexico, working with leading production companies including Jigsaw, Boardwalk Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment. This is her feature debut.
SAMANTHA BLOOM producer
Samantha started at Motto Pictures as a creative assistant before becoming an associate producer, co-producer, and now producer at the company. Samantha co-produced Alison Klayman’s Unfinished Business (Tribeca 2022) and Netflix’s Take Your Pills: Xanax. Samantha was a Production Coordinator on Maite Alberdi’s Oscar-nominated The Mole Agent; a Production Associate on Nanfu Wang’s Peabody-Winning In The Same Breath, and Laura Nix’s Peabody-Winning Inventing Tomorrow; a Production Assistant on Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground (2020 Cannes Film Festival), Andre Hoermann’s Emmy-nominated Ringside, and Nanfu Wang’s Oscar-shortlisted One Child Nation. She is currently producing projects with directors including Pernille Rose Grønkjær and Julia Schwalb.
GRACE ZAHRAH editor/producer
Grace Zahrah is an Emmy Award-winning producer and editor best known for her work on Oscar-shortlisted and multi-award-winning RETROGRADE, directed by Matthew Heineman; PRIME MINISTER (Sundance 2025), directed by Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe; and SIRENS (Sundance 2022), directed by Rita Baghdadi. Zahrah also produced the documentary POSSIBLE SELVES, directed by Shaun Kadlec, which premiered on PBS in 2024. A former Karen Schmeer Fellow and DOCNYC 40 Under 40 honoree, Zahrah is based in Los Angeles.
MOIRA HAMILTON editor
Moira Hamilton is a documentary editor and producer based in Los Angeles. She made her feature editorial debut exploring the revival of the world’s first art-amusement park (Tremolo Productions, unreleased). She’s dedicated to empathetic, character-driven storytelling. Select credits include What’s Next: The Future with Bill Gates (Netflix), The Loyola Project (Paramount Plus), Hesburgh (NYT Critic’s Pick) and USC Shoah Foundation’s “The Last Chance Collection,” where she produced over 50 interviews with Holocaust survivors, preserving their testimony.
ZACKARY DRUCKER executive producer
Zackary Drucker is an independent artist, cultural producer, and trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender, sexuality, and seeing. She most recently directed The Stroll (HBO) and Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl (Hulu). She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA, among others. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated producer for the docu-series This Is Me, as well as a producer on Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Transparent.
ALEX SCHMIDER executive producer
Alex Schmider is an independent film producer and the Senior Director of Entertainment at GLAAD, the nation’s leading LGBTQ media advocacy organization. Schmider's producing credits include Changing the Game (Hulu), Disclosure (Netflix), Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber), Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story (Netflix) and Chasing Chasing Amy (2023). His films have premiered at Sundance and Tribeca, and screened at hundreds of festivals around the world, among them BFI and Hot Docs. These films have been recognized by Cinema Eye Honors, the Critics' Choice Awards, Peabody Awards, and GLAAD Awards, among others. In 2022, Schmider was nominated for a Primetime Emmy® Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and, in 2023, was honored as one of DOC NYC's 40 under 40.
CURREN SHELDON DP
Curren Sheldon is an ASC Award-winning cinematographer and Academy Award nominated and two-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. As a cinematographer, Sheldon has shot films that were acquired by Netflix, HBO, PBS, and the NY Times, among others. His latest feature as Director of Photography, “King Coal,” screened at over 40 film festivals and resulted in best cinematography nominations at the Cinema Eye Honors, IDA Awards, Camerimage Film Festival, and a win at the ASC Awards for best documentary feature. He also acted as DP and Producer for the Netflix Original Documentaries “Heroin(e)” and “Recovery Boys,” as well as DP on HBO’s “Phoenix Rising,” and Freeform’s “Keep This Between Us.” Sheldon lives in Appalachia with his filmmaking partner and wife, Elaine, and their two young children.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
It’s cool in Flagstaff, Arizona. Tall pines stretch towards the sky as a hawk cries out from above. A runner’s pastel shoe grinds into the path as their breath grows faster, sharper. Somewhere ahead, a man shouts — harsh but encouraging: “Pick it up, Nikki!”
At nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, the air is almost hostile — and this is Nikki’s seventieth mile of the week. But it’s all in service of a dream, a compulsion, to do something never done before:
Nikki could be the first openly trans runner to ever compete at the Olympics.
Magnetic, goofy, and fiercely competitive, Nikki Hiltz sees themself as “just a track nerd with a dream.” But since coming out as trans nonbinary, they’ve been embroiled in a culture-consuming battle about fairness and inclusivity in sports. As Nikki forges ahead toward their goal of becoming the first out trans runner to compete at the Olympics, they weigh their need to transition, a possible disqualifier, with pursuing their athletic dreams.
Nikki’s partner Emma is Gen Z, sassy, and also an elite runner – she’s the outspoken fighter to Nikki’s conflict-avoidant uniter. Emma was the first out athlete at BYU. She’s had to fight harder to be accepted, brandishing a “fuck the haters” mindset.
Rooted in present-day vérité, the film begins with Nikki and Emma at home amidst a grueling training schedule. We learn how Nikki’s Olympic dream was crushed last cycle after a torrent of hate infiltrated their focus, undermining their confidence. We also meet Nikki's fiercest rivals, who are expected to sweep the Olympic team.
As competition begins, Nikki is running better than ever. They meet with a sports psychiatrist about their gender dysphoria and research options for gender-affirming care. Nikki and their family reflect on their childhood and struggles coming out. Nikki loses to their biggest rival one month before the Olympic Trials by four seconds, a seemingly insurmountable gap.
One week to Trials, and tensions are high – Nikki and Emma have one of their biggest fights. Isolated in Flagstaff, Arizona, Nikki and Emma only have each other, and with that codependence comes heightened pressure.
At Trials, Nikki enters the arena and the crowd erupts. They run the race of their life, setting a record. Nikki crosses the finish line and collapses with joy, tears, disbelief. They're an Olympian.
In Paris, Nikki and Emma explore the city and attend the opening ceremony. Nikki doesn’t medal, but they make history as the first trans runner to compete at the Olympics. We culminate with a decision by Nikki that will change their future forever.
Since wrapping filming at the end 2024, our edit has gotten off to a running start! With over 200 hours of verité footage to comb through, we are officially making our way towards a full rough cut (aka first draft) of the film by the end of June.
From there, we need to refine the cut to get it ready to submit to top-tier festivals by September 2025.
That’s where you come in: the goal of this campaign is to get this movie festival-ready. With your support, we can pay our editor, composer, sound and color engineers, and graphics team in order to submit the strongest version of the film to the world’s best festivals! And from there, to your TV :)
This $50,000 will be critical in enabling us to:
- Keep up our editorial momentum - We’ve got a rough draft of the film. With your support, we can get it festival-ready!
- Key Pick Up Shoot with Nikki - Nikki’s journey isn’t over yet. We have one more shoot to get the perfect ending scene for our film.
- Music Composition - With your help, we can bring on a composer to create our film’s unique sound.
- Graphic Treatments - Joining our team will allow us to bring on a motion graphics artist to create the film’s main titles.
- Color Correction and Sound Mix - Color and sound correction change everything. Emma’s cheers and cries will be drowned out by crowd noise without your help!
As of June 13th, we are at 100% of our goal!! We have been so humbled and grateful by everyone’s participation and generosity in getting us this far. The $50,000 we’ve raised with your help will cover essential expenses to get the film to a fine cut. THANK YOU ALL!
But we're not done yet--with two weeks left in our campaign, we're stretching our goal to get KICK further toward the finish. We're now doubling our goal with the hope of reaching $100,000 by the end of pride month.
If we get to $100,000: We will be able to cover additional edit weeks to get the film to picture lock--essentially a final draft!!! And we can put more money towards our archival and music licensing costs (sports footage is expensive!)
Let’s see how far we can run!
Nikki’s story offers a nuanced, humanized, sometimes surprising view of a trans athlete, standing in stark contrast to our sensationalized media echo chambers. Our vision for KICK is to approach the film as a coming-of-age story of an athlete as they prepare for the race of their life. Through this lens, Nikki’s story has far-reaching appeal and universality.
And now in particular, this approach is critical. Transgender people are under unprecedented attack, with sports at the forefront. Nikki’s story invites curiosity around deeply held convictions about gender in sports. Through Nikki, audiences will get to know a trans athlete as a human first. Expanding our understanding and empathy, KICK has the potential to reframe the conversation nationwide.
This documentary is about chasing medals. But it’s also about:
- Coming of age and into oneself
- Young adults navigating romantic relationships (smut?)
- Chasing your dreams and the sacrifices made along the way
- Challenging preconceived notions of trans athletes
- Encouraging flexible thinking and expansive understanding
- Contribute what you can! No contribution is too small.
- Share the campaign with your networks!
- Join our email list
- Follow us @kickdocumentary on Instagram and TikTok (and Nikki and Emma if you don’t already!)
- Follow us on Seed & Spark to help us unlock rewards
- In honor of Nikki, offer to donation-match $1500 of what we raise.
If you would like to receive a tax break, you can also donate here via our fiscal sponsor, Athlete Ally.
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
One last shoot
Costs $15,000
We need an ending! Funds will go towards one final shoot with Nikki to capture some crucial scenes for the end of our film.
Edit
Costs $15,000
Funds will be essential for our editor to get the cut ready to submit to festivals by September 2025
Music Composition
Costs $5,000
Give us a beat. Funds will allow us to bring on a composer to score key scenes for festival submissions.
Graphics
Costs $4,000
Funds will allow us to bring on a motion graphics artist to create the film’s main titles for festival submissions.
Initial Sound Mix and Color Treatment
Costs $10,000
Help us cover the initial costs for sound mixing and color correction to take the film to the next level and get it festival ready.
Grant and Festival Submissions
Costs $1,000
Help us cover the administrative costs for submitting to finishing funds grants and film festivals.
Share this update!
About This Team
NIKKI HILTZ
Nikki Hiltz grew up in the “hippie surfer” town of Santa Cruz. Even as a kid, they had a complicated relationship to their gender. But it wasn’t until a few years ago, after learning the term nonbinary on TikTok, that they came out. The public response was intense, and the resulting scrutiny, confusion, and hate brought Nikki to a new low. But then, it transformed into a desperation to explain themself. Now, Nikki has become a voice for their community, speaking to those “who don’t know or don’t understand— who wonder but are maybe too afraid to ask.” Yet they still want to be seen as an athlete first — and nothing, not even transitioning, will come before their Olympic dream.
EMMA GEE
A Gen Z, blonde, Leo queen, 26-year-old Emma Gee met Nikki via Instagram DM four years ago — and they’ve been inseparable ever since. An elite runner herself, Emma was the first athlete at Brigham Young University to come out as LGBTQ+. She’s had to fight harder and louder to be accepted, brandishing a “fuck the haters” mindset. And as a partner, Emma is fiercely protective of Nikki, always pumping them up and correcting anyone who dares misgender them. Nikki is Emma’s track coach, and they live and train together in Flagstaff, AZ along with their German Shepherd named Scout. Together, they founded and run the annual Pride 5K.
JULIA SCHWALB director/producer
Julia Schwalb is a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, creating journalistic, socially conscious, character-driven documentaries. She has produced a variety of projects for broadcast, cinema, and streaming platforms, including Netflix, CNN, Hulu, Discovery, and more. She has filmed across the US, as well as in Zimbabwe, Wales, and Mexico, working with leading production companies including Jigsaw, Boardwalk Pictures, and Amblin Entertainment. This is her feature debut.
SAMANTHA BLOOM producer
Samantha started at Motto Pictures as a creative assistant before becoming an associate producer, co-producer, and now producer at the company. Samantha co-produced Alison Klayman’s Unfinished Business (Tribeca 2022) and Netflix’s Take Your Pills: Xanax. Samantha was a Production Coordinator on Maite Alberdi’s Oscar-nominated The Mole Agent; a Production Associate on Nanfu Wang’s Peabody-Winning In The Same Breath, and Laura Nix’s Peabody-Winning Inventing Tomorrow; a Production Assistant on Todd Haynes’ The Velvet Underground (2020 Cannes Film Festival), Andre Hoermann’s Emmy-nominated Ringside, and Nanfu Wang’s Oscar-shortlisted One Child Nation. She is currently producing projects with directors including Pernille Rose Grønkjær and Julia Schwalb.
GRACE ZAHRAH editor/producer
Grace Zahrah is an Emmy Award-winning producer and editor best known for her work on Oscar-shortlisted and multi-award-winning RETROGRADE, directed by Matthew Heineman; PRIME MINISTER (Sundance 2025), directed by Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe; and SIRENS (Sundance 2022), directed by Rita Baghdadi. Zahrah also produced the documentary POSSIBLE SELVES, directed by Shaun Kadlec, which premiered on PBS in 2024. A former Karen Schmeer Fellow and DOCNYC 40 Under 40 honoree, Zahrah is based in Los Angeles.
MOIRA HAMILTON editor
Moira Hamilton is a documentary editor and producer based in Los Angeles. She made her feature editorial debut exploring the revival of the world’s first art-amusement park (Tremolo Productions, unreleased). She’s dedicated to empathetic, character-driven storytelling. Select credits include What’s Next: The Future with Bill Gates (Netflix), The Loyola Project (Paramount Plus), Hesburgh (NYT Critic’s Pick) and USC Shoah Foundation’s “The Last Chance Collection,” where she produced over 50 interviews with Holocaust survivors, preserving their testimony.
ZACKARY DRUCKER executive producer
Zackary Drucker is an independent artist, cultural producer, and trans woman who breaks down the way we think about gender, sexuality, and seeing. She most recently directed The Stroll (HBO) and Queenmaker: The Making of an It Girl (Hulu). She has performed and exhibited her work internationally in museums, galleries, and film festivals including the Whitney Biennial 2014, MoMA PS1, Hammer Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA San Diego, and SF MoMA, among others. Drucker is an Emmy-nominated producer for the docu-series This Is Me, as well as a producer on Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Transparent.
ALEX SCHMIDER executive producer
Alex Schmider is an independent film producer and the Senior Director of Entertainment at GLAAD, the nation’s leading LGBTQ media advocacy organization. Schmider's producing credits include Changing the Game (Hulu), Disclosure (Netflix), Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber), Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story (Netflix) and Chasing Chasing Amy (2023). His films have premiered at Sundance and Tribeca, and screened at hundreds of festivals around the world, among them BFI and Hot Docs. These films have been recognized by Cinema Eye Honors, the Critics' Choice Awards, Peabody Awards, and GLAAD Awards, among others. In 2022, Schmider was nominated for a Primetime Emmy® Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and, in 2023, was honored as one of DOC NYC's 40 under 40.
CURREN SHELDON DP
Curren Sheldon is an ASC Award-winning cinematographer and Academy Award nominated and two-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. As a cinematographer, Sheldon has shot films that were acquired by Netflix, HBO, PBS, and the NY Times, among others. His latest feature as Director of Photography, “King Coal,” screened at over 40 film festivals and resulted in best cinematography nominations at the Cinema Eye Honors, IDA Awards, Camerimage Film Festival, and a win at the ASC Awards for best documentary feature. He also acted as DP and Producer for the Netflix Original Documentaries “Heroin(e)” and “Recovery Boys,” as well as DP on HBO’s “Phoenix Rising,” and Freeform’s “Keep This Between Us.” Sheldon lives in Appalachia with his filmmaking partner and wife, Elaine, and their two young children.