Birmingham Post, Australian radio and DVD extras

I just did two back to back Australian radio interviews and both radio presenters loved the flick.  The first one was for the Perth arm of Australian National Radio, and the other was for a Perth community station.  Both were fun (but weird cuz they live in the future).  Oh yeah, we’re screening in Perth (at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival) this weekend (as well as Birmingham (UK), Oklahoma City (w/ me in attendance for Q&A), and Salt Lake City… man, we are EVERYWHERE).

And speaking of Birmingham, I caught early wind of a cool review (It should be printed in the Birmingham Post in a day or so).  Dig it:

HELL ON WHEELSCert 18 90 minsInvented in Chicago in the mid 30s and swiftly transforming from simple race to full contact competitive sport, come 1970 roller derby had peaked and died. But then, in 2001, a huckster with big ideas and little application breezed into Austin, Texas looking to put together all-women roller derby. Several hard living, and frequently heavily tattooed girls were keen to get involved and when he proved the king of empty promises, decided to take things into their own hands. Thus was born the Bad Girl, Good Woman league, a paradoxical grassroots mix of sexy feminism and male fantasy (especially in the notion of the Spank Alley penalty) determined to prove women could work together without any help from men.

Adopting such colourful stage names as Iron Maiden, Tinkerhell, and Miss Conduct, the league soon attracted enough players to form four teams, overcoming any number of obstacles to get the sport back on its feet.

Public response was good, but within a couple of years arguments about ownership and control saw a split between the (well-intentioned but somewhat naive) council and those in the ranks who wanted more say. Eventually, 80 members quit to form the rival breakaway skater-run league, Texas Rollergirls.

As such, while there’s plenty of footage of the sport in all its skimpy uniforms and full blooded aggression, roller derby itself is actually incidental to this absorbing documentary. Unlike, say, Hoop Dreams, it’s much more about women in the tough world of business politics where ambitions and egos don’t always sit well with dreams and ideals. Even handed in allowing all sides to have their say with a steady succession of interviews mixed between the archive footage, it’s a fascinating and surprisingly inspirational piece of work, with as much appeal to The Apprentice audience as skate fanatics.

 

 

~ by hellonwheelsmovie on July 1, 2008.