This Sporting Life

This Sporting Life

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This Sporting Life
  • Football Under Cover

    Directed by Ayat Najafi and David Assmann • Documentary • 2008 • 86 minutes

    The members of the Iranian women's international football (soccer) team possess a dedication to the sport rivaling that of any other group of players in the world. What they lack, however, is a team to play against. When...

  • A Cinderella Season: The Lady Vols Fight Back

    Directed by Jon Alpert, Maryann De Leo • Documentary • 1998 • 77 minutes

    In March 1996, the University of Tennessee women's basketball team completed a 32-4 dream season to win its fourth NCAA championship in nine years, creating high expectations for the next season. Combining on-court action a...

  • King of the Hill

    Directed by William Canning, Donald Brittain • Documentary • 1974 • 56 minutes

    Spring 1972. The Chicago Cubs are poised to win the National League's Pennant race, lead by their star pitcher, a Black Canadian named Ferguson Jenkins, who was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991. Out of ...

  • Harvard Beats Yale 29-29

    Directed by Kevin Rafferty • Documentary • With Vic Gatto, Brian Dowling , Tommy Lee Jones
    • 2008 • 105 minutes

    An incredible true story that unfolds like "a ripping good yarn... with an uproarious, impossible Hollywood ending" (Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com), Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 is filmmaker...

  • Maidentrip

    Directed by Jillian Schlesinger • Documentary • 2013 • 82 minutes

    14-year-old Laura Dekker sets out - camera in hand - on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to be the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. In the wake of a year-long battle with Dutch authorities that sparked...

  • 12 O'Clock Boys

    Directed by Lofty Nathan • Documentary • 2013 • 76 minutes

    The 12 O'CLOCK BOYS are a notorious urban dirt bike pack in Baltimore -- popping wheelies and weaving at excessive speeds through traffic, the group impressively evades the hamstrung police. In Lotfy Nathan's wild, dynamic documentary (t...

  • Sensei Fran Kicks Ass

    Directed by Simone Fary • Documentary • With Fran Vall • 2019 • 19 minutes

    Octogenarian Fran Vall holds a 6th degree black belt in Judo and a 5th one in Naginata (Japanese sword fighting). In addition to mentoring at three martial arts clubs she still finds time to work as a ski and snowboard in...

  • Looking For Sunshine: The Life of an Olympic Skier

    Directed by Niccolo Castelli • Documentary • 2019 • 94 minutes

    A year in Lara Gut’s universe, from the victory of the Alpine Ski World Cup Overall title in 2016 to the comeback after an injury at the peak of her career.

    A documentary about a young woman and a champion trying to find her way a...

  • Adonis

    Directed by Jérémie Battaglia • Documentary • 2024 • 52 minutes

    Though it was once limited to elite athletes, the use of anabolic steroids has reached endemic proportions among young male bodybuilding and strength training enthusiasts. Daring to tackle the taboos surrounding the concept of male ...

  • Las Leonas

    Directed by Isabel Achaval, Chiara Bondi • Documentary • 2022 • 83 minutes

    On the outskirts of Rome, six teams compete in the women’s soccer championship, the Las Leonas Trophy. All recent immigrants to Italy—the majority from South America—the participants work busy lives as caregivers and hous...

  • 64 Day Hero: A Boxer's Tale

    Directed by Franco Rosso • Documentary • 1985 • 92 minutes

    In this compelling and thought-provoking documentary, sports writer and novelist Gordon Williams uses archive footage, as well as interviews with family members and friends, to investigate the troubled life of the mixed-race British boxi...

  • Shaka

    Directed by Morgan Le Faucheur • Documentary • With Mathieu Crepel, Koa and Eddie Rothman • 2018 • 77 minutes

    Showcasing breathtaking footage of mountains and waves around the world, Shaka follows snowboarding world champion and renowned athlete Mathieu Crepel as he faces the biggest challenge o...

  • Meru

    Directed by Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi • Documentary • With Conrad Anker, Jimmy Chin, Renan Ozturk, Jon Krakauer • 2015 • 90 minutes

    In the high-stakes pursuit of big-wall climbing, the Shark’s Fin on Mount Meru may be the ultimate prize. Sitting 21,000 feet above the sacred Ganges Ri...

  • Geek Girls

    Directed by Gina Hara • Documentary • With Stephanie Harvey, Anita Sengupta, Rachel Weil • 2017 • 83 minutes

    Nerdy women - the "hidden half" of fan culture - open up about their lives in the world of conventions, video games, and other rife-with-misogyny pop culture touchstones. While geek commu...

  • Long Distance Swimmer: Sara Mardini

    Directed by Charly Wai Feldman • Documentary • 2023 • 89 minutes

    At 20, Sara was already famous. She fled Syria in 2015 with her younger sister Yusra. When their boat broke down as they were crossing the sea to Greece, Sara and Yusra and two others jumped into the waves and swam for three and a ...

  • Through the Mirror of Chess: A Cultural Exploration

    4 items

    A captivating 4-part docuseries examining the remarkable impact of chess on culture, art, science, and sport. These films take the viewer on an exhilarating journey across a wide range of times and places touching on cultural history, the nature of competitiveness, AI, psychology, game theory, ch...

  • Mel

    Directed by Paul Cohen, Inna Sahakyan • Documentary • 2022 • 76 minutes

    Armenia's most beloved weightlifter becomes the country's biggest shame when he comes out as transgender. It cost Mel his fame, his fortune, his family, and even his homeland. Today, under asylum in the Netherlands, his drea...

  • Glory to the Queen

    Directed by Tatia Skhirtladze • Documentary • With Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Ioseliani • 2020 • 82 minutes

    Leading us to Tbilisi, Georgia, Glory to the Queen reveals the interwoven biographies of the world chess heroes Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria,...

  • One Step From Glory

    Directed by Fabrice Macaux • Documentary • 2020 • 53 minutes

    Le Havre Athletic Club (HAC) training center is one of the best and most demanding in Europe, the oldest club in French football.

    Abdel, 18, is entering a decisive year; the last in the center for this young footballer. The challenge ...

  • A Game of Three Halves - Episode 1

    Directed by Matthew Bate • Animation • 2021 • 4 minutes

    Sports journalist, podcaster and week-end player Max Rushden, hilariously ruminates on the frustrastions, disasters and joys of spending his weekends organising and playing amateur Sunday league football. From surviving apocalyptic microcli...

  • Gunnin' for that #1 Spot

    Directed by Adam Yauch • Documentary • 2008 • 97 minutes

    On the corner of 155th Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem, New York, lies Rucker Park. By appearances, the green concrete pavement, anchored on either end by its run down slab bleachers, is no different than any other basketb...

  • Hopefuls

    Directed by Ives Rosenfeld • Drama • With Ariclenes Barroso, Sérgio Malheiros • 2015 • 74 minutes

    “Hopefuls” tells the story of Junior, a young player for Bacaxa A.C, an amateur football team from the city of Saquarema, on the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. He has to deal with the unexpected pre...

  • Koshien: Japan's Field of Dreams

    Directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki • Documentary • 2019 • 94 minutes

    Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in the 100th annual Koshien, Japan's wildly popular national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include U.S. baseball star Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. But...

  • Off the Road

    Directed by José Permar • Documentary • 2020 • 78 minutes

    Each year, the slow-paced lifestyle on Mexico’s largest desert in Baja Peninsula is given a turbo boost by the Baja 1000, the largest off-road motorsport race in the world that takes place crossing the Mexican-US border.

    In this modern-d...