“Like many great boxing movies, Rocky included, what happens in the ring in Ringside is the culmination of all the battles won and lost outside of it.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Chicago’s South Side is notorious for its street gangs and shootings. For Kenny and Destyne, the boxing gym provides a shelter that shields them from the threatening everyday presence of violence and crime. Spurred on by their ambitious fathers, the ring becomes a kind of prison for the two boys, robbing them of any sense of freedom with its strict regime. At the same time, boxing represents their only shot at a better life – if only they have the talent and discipline to truly make it.
For eight years, director André Hörmann and DP Tom Bergmann accompanied the two adolescents on their rocky road marked by hope and setbacks, creating a dense and emotional portrait that relates different ways of asserting one’s self in a complex world. (Berlinale Catalog 2019)
2019 | Germany/USA | 95 min | Documentary | Motto Pictures, NYC | SUTOR KOLONKO, Cologne | WDR Television |
Director: André Hörmann
WORLD PREMIERE at Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale 2019
