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Long Island Premiere & Fundraiser for Oakcliff SailingMIGHTY MARY
Thursday, October 29th at 7:30 PM
Featuring a post-film Q&A with Dawn Riley, Director of Oakcliff Sailing
$22 Public | $15 Members
Narrated by Elizabeth Banks and Hugh Jackman, directed by award-winning documentary filmmaker (and Olympian) Mary Mazzio, and produced by Mazzio along with Allison Abner (writer for Narcos, West Wing, Imperfect Women) and Atlanta Hawks owner and NBA All-Star, Grant Hill. Mighty Mary chronicles an amazing group of “we eat nails for breakfast” type of women: the first all-women’s sailing team to contend for the famed America’s Cup, the holy grail for one of sport’s most elite and exclusive racing events.
This team was groundbreaking, beginning with an advertisement in the New York Times (prompting hilarious responses from a wide swath of Americana who thought they might have what it takes to sail in the America’s Cup, including a woman flexing in a bikini next to a cactus). From there, a group of world class and Olympic sailors, as well as Olympic rowers came together, a team which included a deaf sailor, a Native Hawaiian sailor, and the first African American sailor to ever win an America’s Cup race (as a coach of this novice, erstwhile team), and current Director of Oakcliff Sailing, Dawn Riley. What was dismissed as a publicity stunt turned into something unimaginable. This motley crew (sailing aboard Mighty Mary) stunningly eliminated Stars & Stripes from contention, helmed by 4-time America’s Cup winner, Dennis Conner (“Mr. America’s Cup”). However, a secret backroom deal the night before the race upended that result. This is a true underdog story about a team which reshaped what could be possible in a sport that had long been inaccessible. Mighty Mary won the Maria Mitchell Visionary Award at the 2026 Nantucket Film Festival. (USA, 2026, 98 mins, NR, English | Dir. Mary Mazzio)
Dawn Riley is one of the best-known sailors in the world and a member of the National Sailing Hall of Fame, the International America’s Cup Hall of Fame and the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame — the only person to achieve all three. A Michigan State University graduate, she has raced in four America’s Cups, winning one, and two Whitbread Round the World races. Still an active competitor, racing 600+ hours this past summer, she and young Oakcliff (Oyster Bay NY) sailors hold course records for the Bayview Mackinac, Marblehead-Halifax, and Around Long Island races.
As CEO and captain of America True (2000), she was and is the youngest person and only female ever to lead an America’s Cup Campaign. Before that she was the sole female on the winning 1992 America’s Cup team and Team Captain of the groundbreaking 1995 all women’s team that was recently made into the feature film Mighty Mary. She was also featured in the movie Maiden (2018) the story of the 1st all-women’s round the world team where she served as watch captain.
A past president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, Dawn is a much sought-after motivational speaker and author of Taking the Helm (with Cynthia Goss), with a second book forthcoming. She is executive director of Oakcliff Sailing, a non-profit leadership training center in Oyster Bay, NY, building leaders through sailing. Oakcliff has incorporated America True, the 501(c)(3) youth foundation she founded in 1997 to introduce sailing to young people nationwide through advocacy and scholarships
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Event venue
Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave, Huntington, NY 11743-2803, United States
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