Chessboxing the Sport Makes People Laugh; Chessboxing the Movie, Worth a See: Special Feature in today's Films & Books Magazine
Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) July 10, 2013 -- In the media, Chessboxing is best known as a crazy, fun, not-ready-for-primetime sport. To devotees, it's the ultimate test of brawn and intellect. Throw two sweaty and bloodied "intellectual athletes" into a ring for alternating rounds of chess and boxing—intellect and brawn equally challenged—and you have a mix that makes audiences chuckle. Make a documentary movie about this bizarre sport and you've got a film worth seeing, if only for curiosity value.
Today, in Films & Books, we feature an interview with David Bitton, filmmaker of this unique documentary. Chessboxing is unlikely to become an Olympic sport, and it will always likely shock, delight, or disgust. Yet a documentary about the zany sport of Chessboxing is probably a winning proposition. Audiences are fascinated with the weird, wonderful and new.
"Chessboxing initially tends to make people laugh, so it's often very quickly dismissed as a novelty or a joke, "said director David Bitton, the filmmaker behind Chessboxing—The King's Discipline, in a Films and Books interview.
"Watching the fighters struggle to not make an error on the chess board when they're sweating and bleeding and their bodies are full of adrenaline— it's riveting to watch," said David Bitton, explaining the allure of the sport to its growing base of fans. "I think the film will particularly speak to people who do not see themselves fitting into the boxes society demand we fit into."
Chessboxing—The King's Discipline
David Bitton's ambitious documentary, covering the rising sport of Chessboxing is sure to win over the curious. The delight of a new discovery, the shock of a bizarre combination of brute and brains, and the sheer at-first-glance silliness of the sport will make this hard to resist for most viewers. Because Chessboxing is so unique and culturally odd, the documentary has the potential to become a cult hit.
Chessboxing itself, so far remains mostly a cultish or beer night oddity, with avid fans in Germany, London and California under independent national organizations. Organizers have big ambitions for Pay-Per-View TV events and Vegas-style productions. Chessboxing, based on a fictional sport from a popular graphic novel by Enki Bilal, has been profiled extensively in media, from the New York Times to the Space Channel, but inevitably with the spin of "and here's something completely different."
Chessboxing Documentary
Filmmaker David Bitton spent two years documenting the sporting events—and the people behind the unusual sport—and is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter to fund post production for release.
When asked why he committed so much time to the unique subject he answered, "As a filmmaker and in life, I'm a big fan of things that seem absurd and laughable at first. They worm their way into my subconscious and refuse to leave. Those are the things I know to pay attention to because they're resonating on some deeper emotional level that is forcing me to rethink how I see the world. Chessboxing is one of the most powerful examples of this I've come across..."
Read the entire interview here...
About Indie Films and Books
Since 2006, Indie Films and Books zine—affectionately known to early audiences just as Films and Books or as F&B—has been bringing the latest news, views, and reviews on independent (Indy, Indie) motion arts and publishing. We’ve focused extensively, though not exclusively, on all the news from the indie scene, including news about film makers, authors, debuts, funding, deals, publishing news, emerging actors and any interesting story with a focus on indie. Ultimately, by popular demand, this led to featured coverage of Bollywood, Korean Drama and Asian Film. We also focus on worthy self-publishing or self-funded film projects.
Indie Films and Books is a publication of Zines Online, a Persona Corp service.
Derek Armstrong, Persona Corp, http://www.personaco.com, 647-477-8179 Ext: 288, [email protected]
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