Fundraising is about to get underway for a film about the life of Victoria Manalo Draves, a Filipino American and the first woman in Olympic history to win gold in springboard and platform diving events, reports Examiner.com.
Manalo Draves who is Filipino-British American accomplished her feat at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.
A bronze plaque commemorating the Olympian will be unveiled at Victoria Manalo Draves park in San Francisco this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The event is being put on by the West Bay Filipino Multi-Service Center and the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Commission.
Actress Georgina Tolentino recently signed on to play the role of Victoria.
“The more I learned about Vicki the more I felt continuously inspired,” said Tolentino. “She was a woman who overcame prejudice and to me she focused on the work. In the Olympics and sports, you are either a champion or you’re not and it shows in your training work ethic.”
The film is scheduled to be completed in 2015 and a Kickstarter campaign will be launched after the plague ceremony on Sunday.
“We want to have the Filipino community really show that we want to see a film like this get made by helping us move out of this stage. What really broke my heart was when a Filipino American woman actually told me, “mainstream media is not ready for an Asian female lead in a film.” The fact that she believed that as a result from what is out there is what even fueled me more to get this made.”
You can read more about Manalo Draves and the film on Examiner.com.