What does it take to play for your country? That’s the dream of course. It is 2022, the FIFA World Cup Qatar™ is due to commence in November, and the Australian Socceroos have finally managed to qualify after an epic struggle. Do our young players also have challenges on the world stage? Can a group of Aussie football players from Sydney Olympic FC take on the best in Europe?
The doc brings us back to a 1961 football game played in front of 40,000 people at the Orange Bowl. A high school football game, pitting Miami High against their rivals from Edison High. The title refers to the coaches of each, and the film follows them separately, with their real families and their clan of players, in the days leading up to the big event. And then at last it astonishingly chronicles the game from all kinds of angles you wouldn’t expect from even the newly mobile tools of the Drew crew. Today’s television coverage doesn’t come nearly as close to capturing the spirit of the sport and its fans the way Lipscomb does here. (Nothing But the Doc)
A powerful and inspirational story of dedication, danger, fear, and the rare ‘will’ some of us have to defy all personal limitations. Experience the fastest motorsport on earth through the eyes of five-time champion Scott Dixon and the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Filmed with an access all areas lens, ‘Born Racer’ follows the people who are passionate about the world of auto racing and asks why some individuals feel compelled to face danger and risk their lives in order to win. Both action-packed and highly-intimate, it features an intense blend of up close and personal filming with never-before-seen spectacular, cutting-edge racing footage to explore a sport that defines the very people who inhabit it, and pushes them to the edge in their desire for success.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.
The extraordinary journey of Adebayo 'The Beast' Akinfenwa, twenty-years defying the odds; adored by fans, respected throughout the sport and commanding more attention than most.
A journey of ups and downs, following Barney Page as he rides the length of the British Isles on his skateboard in memory of his friend Ben Raemers. Lands End seeks to shine a light on the darkness of suicide and discusses how we can turn the corner on Mental Health.
THE SAINTS FROM 1897 TO 2003 St Kilda – the name alone brings to mind the very passion of the game. This is a club that has tasted just a brief touch of heaven and more than its fair share of hell. From the glory of that famous 1966 premiership through to years in turmoil, Heaven and Hell traces the story of one of the AFL’s great football clubs. On field heroes, off field battles. The great players like Baldock, Stewart, Ditterich, Smith, Barker, Lockett and Harvey playing against a backdrop of political tension. Originally released in 1997, this is an updated version produced for DVD. It now contains Harvey’s Brownlows, the 1997 finals campaign and the coaching crisis that saw Stan Alves, Tim Watson and Malcolm Blight leave the club.
A story about the first Serbian Olympian who won bronze medal at the first Olympic games in 1896, also a world class architect.
Key figures from an infamous 2004 incident between players and fans at an NBA game in Michigan discuss the fight, its fallout, and its lasting legacy.
Directed by Rachel Viollet, and featuring interviews with soccer legends; Sir Alex Ferguson, Bryan Robson, Denis Law, Nobby Stiles and Paddy Crerand, this inspiring documentary showcases the life of Manchester United and Busby Babe legend Dennis Viollet.
Everyone knows that the Chicago Bulls are the team of the 1990s, if not all time. In 1998 they won their unmatched sixth NBA title of the '90s. But this was not the same team that squashed all opponents that stood before them, united and led magnificently by players such as Scottie Pippen and the irresistible Michael Jordan. At the beginning of the 1998 season, this team was anything but united. His Airness was still His Airness, but the rest of the Bulls looked less than a shadow of their selves. Pippen stood injured on the sidelines demanding a trade, Rodman looked more interested in Hollywood and his hair, and the supporting cast were beginning to look extremely vulnerable. But as with all great teams, they dusted themselves off, wiped away the cobwebs (not to mention the odd ego or two), and played out the final two-thirds of the regular season like the Chicago Bulls of old.
Roller derby legend Ann Calvello, now in her 70s, refuses to give up the limelight. She is still bashing heads on the banked track of any upstart league that will have her and still acting like the bawdy bad girl of the Derby, even as she bags groceries at her part-time job at Safeway. In the two years the documentary follows her, Ann simultaneously grapples with her declining ability to skate and her determination to be the first professional athlete to have competed continuously in a sport for six decades.
The Boxing Kangaroo is an 1896 British short black-and-white silent documentary film, produced and directed by Birt Acres for exhibition on Robert W. Paul’s peep show Kinetoscopes, featuring a young boy boxing with a kangaroo. The film was considered lost until footage from an 1896 Fairground Programme, originally shown in a portable booth at Hull Fair by Midlands photographer George Williams, donated to the National Fairground Archive was identified as being from this film.
A documentary of the German national soccer team’s 2006 World Cup experience that changed the face of modern Germany.
GREAT NORTH: A RUN. A RIVER. A REGION is a documentary film about the Great North Run, a half marathon from Newcastle to South Shields.
An expedition to the dirty abyss of professional sports. The award winning investigative journalist Benjamin Best (CNN Journalist of the Year 2011) takes a global look behind the scenes at the colourful world of sports and exposes the bitter taste behind the multi-billion sports business.