|
 The Netherlands, 2004, 53 minutes, Color
Director: Tessa Boerman and Samuël Reiziger
In
English and German with English Subtitles
Boxing
champion Michele Aboro grew up in South London, where life for a girl was
never easy, let alone for a mixed-race lesbian girl. Thanks to her
tenacious spirit and an uncanny talent for combat sports, she put her
difficult past behind her and managed to sign a contract with the biggest
boxing promoter in Europe. She won all 21 fights, 18 of them with a
knockout—an exceptional achievement in women’s boxing. But despite her
spectacular record in the ring, her career came to a sudden halt when her
promoter broke her contract under the belief that she was not “promotable.”
Refusing to vamp up her image and pose naked in magazines, this
undefeated world champion was abandoned by an industry more interested in
selling sex than sport.
A KNOCK OUT interweaves Aboro’s personal story with interviews with
boxers whose wild success strikes a painful contrast with Aboro’s
struggles. Searching for logic behind Aboro’s case, this poignant
documentary captures a universal story of fighting for one’s identity and
offers a probing look at the intersection of gender, ethnicity, sexuality
and the increased commercialization of women’s sports.
Screening Time:
20 Sep 13.00 CCF
21 Sep 19.00 Oktagon |
