Movies

Harley & Katya

Synopsis

This feature documentary is about Australian figure skater Harley Windsor, a Weilwyn, Gamilaraay and Ngarrable man from Western Sydney, who was the poster boy for the Australian Winter Olympic Team.

In 2017 he became the first First Nations person to represent Australia at the Winter Olympic Games. Paired with Russian skater Katya (Ekaterina) Alexandrovskaya, then a teenager, this unlikely duo achieved unprecedented success on the ice before meeting with great tragedy.

This film follows Harley on a journey of triumph, loss and transformation.

As a young boy Harley already performed Aboriginal dances. Raised in the First Nations community around Rooty Hill, he danced as soon as he could walk. Within a year of first putting on the skates, he won the NSW championship for his age. He competed in his first international competition at 12. But he was regarded as too tall for individual skating, so pairs had to be his real target.

Paired with 16-year-old Katya, they stunned the figure skating world by winning the junior title at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taiwan, outperforming more fancied pairs from Russia and China to become Australia's first figure skating world champions.

Tragically, Katya died in July 2020 when she fell from a sixth-floor window in central Moscow. Katya suffered from depression and had been diagnosed with epilepsy which let her quit the sport. Her death might have been a suicide.

Details

Release dates
7 February 2022 - Australia
Rating
PG - Parental guidance

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Cite this page

Korff, J 2022, Harley & Katya, <https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/harley-katya>, retrieved 3 November 2024

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