Opening night at the largest documentary film festival in North America is going to pack a punch, along with a few kicks, takedowns and a look at the sport of mixed martial arts that hasn’t been offered before.
FIGHTVILLE, the acclaimed MMA documentary from Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlin, will have its international premiere Thursday, April 28, the opening night of the 2011 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival in Toronto, Ontario. It’s an apropos selection by the festival committee, as the biggest organization in the sport will be enjoying their provincial debut that same week.
Toronto will welcome the UFC to town for the first time, with more than 55,000 fans expected to be in attendance when UFC 129 blows the retractable roof off the Rogers Centre. In addition to the Saturday night’s historic event, the UFC Fan Expo will take place at the Direct Energy Centre April 29-30.
With the sport sure to be a hot topic in Toronto throughout the week, screening FIGHTVILLE as part of the Thursday night opening of the Hot Docs festival makes perfect sense.
While the UFC shines the brightest lights on the biggest stars in the sport, FIGHTVILLE offers a behind-the-scene peak into the world of USA MMA, a small promotion based in Lafayette, Louisiana, and centers on the lives of four men: Gil Guillory, the owner/promoter of USA MMA, Tim Credeur, a UFC veteran and MMA trainer, and Dustin Poirier and Albert Stainbeck, two up-and-comers who train under Credeur at his Gladiators Academy school. Poirier made his UFC debut in January, defeating Josh Grispi in a stunning one-sided upset.
The film offers a candid look at the wildly popular, yet still marginalized and misunderstood sport, through the eyes of the people who are invested and involved at the grassroots level.
FIGHTVILLE premieres Thursday April 28 at 9:30pm at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto. Additional screenings will be held April 29 and May 3. Both Credeur and Poirier will be at the first screening to meet with fans and media.
More Information and Online Box Office can be found at: http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/fightville
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