Swiped

Wednesday, September 10: This screening will be presented with open captions. Live captioning will be provided for the live onstage components of this screening.

Featuring Lily James (2015’s Cinderella; TIFF ’24’s Relay) and Dan Stevens (TV’s Downton Abbey), the latest from director Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Unpregnant) tells the real-life story of Whitney Wolfe Herd, the remarkable woman who helped create two innovative blockbuster dating apps and, in doing so, became the world’s youngest female billionaire.

It is 2012. The tech industry remains a boy’s club. But 22-year-old Whitney (James) refuses to observe Silicon Valley’s glass ceiling. In the wake of a failed startup, Whitney joins the development team at MatchBox, a company she would rebrand as Tinder. As vice president of marketing, she cracks Tinder’s college campus market and sees its user base explode.

Whitney is on top of the world — until tensions between her and her male counterparts burgeon, and she finds herself subject to sexual harassment. It’s a devastating blow, but Whitney powers through, leaving that toxic workspace, filing a lawsuit, winning a settlement, moving to Texas, and going on to develop a new dating app that empowers women. In 2014, Bumble is born. And behind the scenes, Whitney finds a surprising match all her own.

In keeping with her heroine’s ingenuity, sensitivity, and grit, Goldenberg infuses Swiped with vulnerability and exhilaration. James is electric in the film, giving her Wolfe Herd depth and range as she pushes back against the patriarchy, ushers dating into the digital age, and gives women new tools to determine their own romantic destinies.