Derby Crazy Love

? %
Canada, 2013, 64 min

Screenplay:

Maya Gallus

Cinematography:

Katerine Giguère
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Plots(1)

Strap on your helmet and knee pads, check your skates and get hyped to knock the bits out of other women in the high-velocity world of roller derby. Filmmakers Maya Gallus and Justine Pimlott roll into the lives of rink-warrior Amazons in Montreal, New York and London, who live for this aggressive contact sport, and follow them during the run-up to the playoffs. There's a tip of the hat to the origins of track roller skating and some wonderful archival footage from the years it was marketed by pro sports as scripted TV entertainment, but this doc focuses on its revival in the early 2000s as an amateur all-woman-run contact sport inspired by DIY culture and riot grrrl punk aesthetics. It's so popular today that women with code names like Smack Daddy, Apocalipstick and Suzy Hotrod are becoming stars, jamming gender stereotypes and inspiring girls everywhere. (Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival)

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