Life has not been kind to Giacobbe Fragomeni. He spent his childhood in the bleak outskirts of Milan, in a cruel environment. An alcoholic father who used to beat his wife and the kids. It didn’t take him long to go down the road to drug addiction. Following the death of his father, sister and mother, this dark tunnel full of misery brought him to utter desperation. But Giacobbe was not just anyone; alone he started his own fight against addiction, beginning to box “in order to lose weight”. Thanks to the devotion and affection of his first trainer, Ottavio Tazzi, Giako built a bright career. “Boxing saved my life.” In 2008, after overcoming more of life’s obstacles, he became Cruiserweight World Champion WBC.
The story of ‘the greatest single blow against British Imperialism of its time’. A cocktail of jewel thefts, cover-ups and a Royal gay scandal that threatened to rock the British Monarchy to its foundations. The Irish Crown Jewels were stolen by Frank Shackleton, brother of famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and this film is a wonderful historical who-dunnit, investigating the evidence, theories, conspiracies and hoaxes surrounding the theft.
Meet the men, including the man claiming to have the World's biggest penis, who reveal there is a bittersweet side to nature's gift, and who lift the veil on a taboo subject and to show the reality of what it's like to have what all men dream of.
If the first one stunned you, The People's Champion will floor you. This jawbusting follow-up contains the best of Manny Pacquiao's world title defense fights flashing that on-ring bravura that has made him one of the world boxing's crème de la crème. If you've been keeping count of fighters felled by the man with fists of gold, this one could blow your score sheet. Pound for pound, it's world-class sports entertainment at its finest.
The documentary tells the life story of the boxer Norbert Grupe, who was known by his fighting name Prince of Homburg.
After suffering a cerebral hemorrhage during a match, a boxer fights against all odds to make her return to the ring.
Ballet Boys takes you through disappointments, victories, forging of friendship, first loves, doubt, faith, growing apart from each other, finding your own way and own ambitions, all mixed with the beautiful expression of ballet.
The Havana Boxing Academy is a Cuban boarding school that takes 9-year-old boys, and turns them into the best boxers in the world. SONS OF CUBA follows the stories of three young hopefuls through 8 dramatic months of training and schooling as they prepare for the biggest event of their lives so far: Cuba's National Boxing Championship for Under-12's. But during the season, crisis strikes: Fidel Castro is taken ill, and all of Cuba's Olympic boxing champions defect to the USA, leaving Cuba at a crossroads, and the boys contemplating a changing world.
A quotation from Aristophanes, "The desire and pursuit of the whole is called love," precedes views of a man and a woman's bodies, often in extreme close up. Off-screen, a voice recites fragments of oracular literature and purple prose. We see an eye, an ear, a mouth, a tongue, bits of hair, a hand, the tips of fingers, toes. Occasionally, the frame includes a larger scape of a body: a chest, a back, a breast. Usually the camera is stationery; sometimes, it moves across a body, remaining in close up. They hold hands for one moment. The bodies are without clothes; no genitalia are visible.
Luiz Roberto Galizia died very young, but he left behind a wealth of personal archives. 30 years later, his niece Ana Galizia plunges into these archives to follow the traces of this uncle she never met.
In this documentary Kerkhof takes the viewer into a bizarre underworld, the sub-culture of blood art and body piercing performance art. Kerkhof's camera registered a performance by the American blood artist Ron Athey which took place during the FREAK ZONE festival in Lille, France in May 1997. The camerawork is so freaky one would almost suspect it is under the influence of heroin. The film includes interviews with Athey as well as shocking live fragments wherein Athey works his face over with injection needles. The crazy, maniacal clamour of the HIV positive priest/performer gives us insights into the motives and goals of this group of masochistic performance artists. Somebody who entertains his audience by cutting and stabbing himself; is this art? Who can say? What is beyond question is that Kerkhof's masterful use of the camera and editing not only obscures the images but also the boundary between art and unbearable filth.
On October 1, 1975, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad Ali was in the ring with his arch rival Joe Frazier for the third time. This fight in the Philippines, which has been nicknamed "Thrilla in Manila," is considered one of the most dramatic boxing matches in history - in the words of the voice-over, "They hated each other." With the help of archive material and eyewitness accounts (including Imelda Marcos), this documentary not only reconstructs the match, but shows us what was happening behind the scenes as well.
Stanley Kubrick’s debut documentary, following Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier on April 17, 1950—the day of his bout with Bobby James. The film traces Cartier’s quiet morning rituals, training, and anxious hours before the match, culminating in his swift victory that night in Newark. Opening with a brief history of boxing, Kubrick’s tightly crafted short captures the discipline, isolation, and tension behind a fighter’s daily routine.
Thanks to his fierce reputation as an aggressive left-handed slugger and his status as a two-time world champion, diminutive Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao is recognized as one of the hardest punchers in any weight class and a bona fide national hero. Incorporating footage from his most memorable fights, this inspiring documentary chronicles his rise from humble beginnings to unprecedented fame beyond his wildest dreams.
Short documentary directed by Jean Vigo about the French swimmer Jean Taris. The film is notable for the many innovative techniques that Vigo uses, including close ups and freeze frames of the swimmer's body.
A look beyond the shock and inhumanity of prison rape to the intricate social hierarchy that keeps it alive. A filmmaker goes deep inside Alabama's infamous Limestone penitentiary to uncover the long-term causes and consequences of prison rape. With a startling lack of inhibition, five inmates reveal the workings of an elaborate inner society.
Muhammad Ali. He is known as the most thrilling athlete of all time... he is known as The Greatest. The remarkable story of how he became one of the most loved, hated, intriguing, and controversial figures in American history is brought to life in the 6-hour series, Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story. Episode 1: Olympic Gold. Episode 2: The Youngest Heavyweight Champion. Episode. 3: Exile. Episode 4: The Road Back. Episode 5: The Rumble In The Jungle Episode. 6: The Thrilla In Manila.
Ali's greatest fights in full length with original microphone 1. I Shook Up the World: Clay vs. Liston (1964) 2. Rumble in the Jungle: Ali vs. Foreman (1974) 3. Thrilla in Manila: Ali vs. Frazier III (1975)
Dogged by scandal, alcohol issues, rehab & suicidal thoughts Ricky Hatton, one day decides enough is enough. Its time to step back into the ring. This is about personal redemption. The film follows Ricky Hatton in the weeks running up to his final fight against Senchenko, including fight night itself ,where ringside cameras capture every moment prior to, during and after the fight, including inside the locker rooms and corridors.
In their spare time, after their studies or their work, children and adolescents between the ages of eight and sixteen meet at the School of Bullfighting in Madrid to learn the Art of Cúchares: Torear. In their stomachs there is no hunger as in the past, their dreams do not lie in having a farmhouse and being famous. Their only dreams are to be in front of a bull, animal with which death goes, fact of which they are fully aware, as their teachers continually remind them. These, retired bullfighters, some by age, others by force and all with their bodies full of scars produced by the horns of a bull. The nude bullfighting scene is fascinating without being exploitive, and it serves as an analogy for the vulnerability these young bullfighters have when in the ring with the bulls.