No Pain, No Glory

One fight after another: a relentless streak of tragedy marks a legendary family of boxers in the 1980s, in a gripping family portrait from Sean Durkin (The Nest), featuring powerful performances by Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, and Jeremy Allen White. — The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the fiercely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through triumph and tragedy, and under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers fight to leave their indelible mark on the sport’s most iconic rings.

After the triumph of «Magnetic Fields», Yorgos Gousis turns the camera on his brother's life composing the funny but also melancholic portrait of a dreamy traveler of life who seems temporarily stuck in the same bus stop. A poetic character study, awarded at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. — Panagiotis, an arm wrestler living in the countryside, can no longer bear the mentality of the small society and decides to move to Athens to pursue his dreams and engage more professionally in the sport of armwrestling. There, his choices and the new problems he will encounter, will lead to a bras de fer match with the most difficult opponent, himself. — FIPRESCI Prize | Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival | 2022 Youth Jury Award | Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival | 2022 Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation Award | Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival | 2022

Shia LaBeouf is John McEnroe, screaming at umpires and hurling his racket, and across the net at Wimbledon in 1980 stands the ice-cold Björn Borg, chasing his fifth title in a row. It’s two ways of living locked in one legendary match, with Stellan Skarsgård looking on from the stands. — Everyone is holding their breath before the 1980 Wimbledon final, in which the defending champion takes on a young American. Björn Borg, who has won here four years running, doesn’t so much as flinch, while John McEnroe argues with the line judges and plays on raw emotion. The whole world watched that match, yet nobody saw the week leading up to it.

No Israeli and Iranian directors had ever made a film together until Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi, the actress from “Holy Spider”, shot this one in secret in Georgia, halfway between Tel Aviv and Tehran. In the middle of a tournament, a judoka is told she has to lose. — Leila is winning bout after bout at the World Judo Championships, and the final is getting closer. Then a call comes from Tehran ordering her to fake an injury and lose, or be branded a traitor to the state. Her freedom and her family’s are on the line, and Mariam, her coach, wants her to obey. — Official Selection - Orizzonti | Venice Film Festival | 2023 Special Jury Prize | Tokyo Film Festival | 2023

How far are we willing to go for those we love? A classic underdog story, a boxing match, self-sacrifice, forgiveness, Madison Square Garden, and one man's confrontation with himself. With Boardwalk Empire's Michael Pitt and Steve Buscemi, Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci. — Mikey, a once famous boxer, takes a redemptive journey into his past and present, putting his life in danger due to a medical condition that only he knows about. Throughout the day, Mikey visits important figures from his life who encourage him to overcome his ugly past. After one epic fight, a subversive sequence of events reveals that this day was never really about boxing, but about something much deeper. — Official Selection - Orizzonti | Venice Film Festival | 2023

Two years after the over-ambitious Fountain, Darren Aronofsky took everyone by surprise with an anthropocentric look at the world of the fallen, while Mickey Rourke delivered a great performance that put him back on the cinematic map. Golden Lion in Venice and two Oscar nominations. — Randy Robinson, a veteran professional wrestler, was at the height of his career in the 1980s, but twenty-five years later, he is trapped in the life that followed and is now doing one thing only, fighting to survive. When things change and while realizing the dark and underground way in which the ring operates, Randy will overcome the limits he set for himself and attempt to change his life. — Golden Lion | Venice Film Festival | 2008 Nomination for Best Leading Actor (Mickey Rourke) | Oscars | 2009 Nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Marisa Tomei) | Oscars | 2009 Best Actor (MIckey Rourke) | BAFTA Awards | 2009 Best Actor (MIckey Rourke) | Golden Globes | 2009

Allison Janney won an Oscar as the mother of Tonya Harding, the skater America turned into a punchline, and Margot Robbie lands the triple axel. Everyone remembers Tonya’s controversial career differently, and they all tell their version straight to camera. — In Portland, Oregon, LaVona puts her little daughter, Tonya Harding, on the ice and drives her through gruelling training. Tonya grows into one of the best skaters in America, but the judges mark her down because of her image. Her husband regularly hits her, and she keeps going back to him. She becomes the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition, and a few years later a friend of her husband’s comes up with an idea about what to do with her rival. — Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Allison Janney) | Oscars | 2018 Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Margot Robbie) | Oscars | 2018

Clint Eastwood’s knockout film won four Oscars, for Best Picture, Best Director, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. An old trainer refuses to take on a thirty-year-old boxer, but she comes back every day to fight him on it, and this is one bout you can’t walk out of before the final bell. — Frankie Dunn has spent decades training boxers in a run-down Los Angeles gym, keeping everyone at arm’s length except Eddie, a former fighter who now sweeps the floor. Then Maggie walks in, a thirty-one-year-old waitress who grew up poor in Missouri, and asks Frankie to train her. He doesn’t train women, but the next day she’s back. — Best Film | Oscars | 2005 Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Hilary Swank) | Oscars | 2005 Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Morgan Freeman) | Oscars | 2005 Best Director | Oscars | 2005 Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama (Hilary Swank) | Golden Globes | 2005 Best Director | Golden Globes | 2005 Best Foreign Film | César Awards | 2006