FIST in GLOVE: The Filmmaker and the Boxing Ring

Courtesy of Getty Images

DOORS OPEN: 6:30PM. FILMS START: 7PM

TICKETS FREE. BUT BOOKING ESSENTIAL PLEASE RSVP TO boxingfilms2012@gmail.com

A series of short films and extracts exploring the long-lasting kinship between filmmakers and the subject of boxing.

Boxing has always fascinated filmmakers, and attracted film audiences. Between 1894 and 1915, more than 100 ‘fight films’ occupied the screens of early cinema. Rocky and its five sequels spanned thirty years and now, in 2012, boxing documentaries tour the festival circuit, while Hollywood works on yet more star-packed fight movies. The camera can put the audience in a ringside seat, dodging punches in the ring, soaking up the trainer’s advice, savouring the joy and sorrow of every contender. From Charlie Chaplin’s slapstick masterpiece The Champion, to the true stories behind Muhammad Ali’s greatest bouts, this two-hour programme surveys the boxing film genre and asserts its place in film history.

Programmed by Beatrice Read, MA Film Curating 2011/2012 - London Consortium/Birkbeck/London Film School.