Tag Archives: underground

Underground Bare Knuckle Boxing

Once regarded as something that happens exclusively in Guy Ritchie films and on gypsy sites, bare knuckle boxing is fast becoming a thriving scene in the UK — the ultimate British bloodsport.

When Clive Martin embeds with the bare knuckle boxing elite, what he discovers is not dissimilar to Fight Club; IT technicians, builders, lifestyle coaches and even a solicitor, all throwing their unprotected fists into each other’s faces. It’s a subculture of honour, pride and violence.

As the UK prepares to play host to the first US vs UK bare knuckle title fight in 150 years — the biggest event the scene has known since it went underground in the 19th Century — Clive tries to find out if violence is a cause or effect for these angry young men.

Cartel School: Becoming a Hitman

We travel down to Sinaloa, Mexico – El Chapo’s home turf & the heartland of arguably one of the most powerful cartels in the country, if not the world. There, we follow a pair of local, low-ranking members eager to prove themselves as soldiers and sicarios (hit men) for the Sinaloa cartel.

Though they’re currently stuck making drug runs, tailing military trucks, & overseeing other petty assignments throughout the city of Culiacán, they’ll soon be headed to the mountains of Badiraguato to attend the cartel’s underground training camp, where veterans turn hungry young men into willing & able killers.

With never-before-seen, exclusive access to the intricate inner workings of the cartel’s recruitment and training systems, we’ll get a sense of how Mexico’s most powerful organized crime operations prepare their soldiers to wage war & enforce their dominion over their territory.

We’ll also get inside the heads of the civilians willing to permanently give up everything for a shot at rising through the ranks – ultimately learning both how & why so many young men are sucked into a life of crime & bloodshed

Rise of the Trolls

Has internet anonymity unleashed a ‘dark demon’ lurking in all of us? A film that reveals the hard truths surrounding anonymity, dark instincts and freedom on the internet.

Smartphones have put the internet into our pockets and billions of people around the world are now connected online. Our lives have improved greatly, but this “freedom” has also made us vulnerable to a new kind of predator – the internet troll. Hiding behind a veil of anonymity, trolls indulge their darkest impulses, attacking whoever they want with impunity. Once you become the target of a Troll, what starts as a minor annoyance can escalate into a living nightmare. But who are Trolls? And will the fight to stop them destroy our personal freedoms? In Rise of the Trolls we meet:

  • One of the internet’s most notorious trolls, who spends hours every week insulting and infuriating as many people as he can – just for the laughs
  • Britain’s most notorious Troll. A young woman who was jailed in England for sending six threatening tweets.
  • The very first recorded troll in internet history, who led a digital ‘invasion’ of a cat lover’s chat board.
  • A feminist blogger whose trolls are ramping up their tactics to harass her family.
  • A Canadian psychologist who published the first ever study of internet trolls, uncovering the four dark personality traits that drive trolls in their cruelty.
  • An accused Twitter troll whose precedent-setting court case will affect freedom of speech online worldwide.
  • A digital forensics expert who tracks down the most technically adept trolls.

Rise of the Trolls from Sideways Film on Vimeo.

‘Abo’ Henry: Australia’s Most Notorious Gangster

For almost 30 years notorious gangster Graham ‘Abo’ Henry and his partner Neddy Smith ruled the mean streets of Sydney, Australia’s crime capital, with iron fists. They went head-to-head with other gangs, crooked cops, unsuspecting civilians, and finally each other, all with the endorsement of Australia’s most infamous bent cop, Roger Rogerson.

With violence, bloodshed and fear as his tools of trade, Abo Henry carved a swathe through the criminal underworld, raking in millions, and living by his own code of honor; one of looking after your mates, and never, ever rolling on them. His criminal career came to an end on what is known as Sydney’s deadliest pub crawl, which culminated in Henry stabbing police prosecutor Mal Spence in the stomach and the neck.

Martha: A Picture Story

Martha Cooper is an unexpected icon of the street art movement – a tiny, grey-haired figure running alongside crews of masked graffiti artists.

In the 1970’s, as the boroughs of New York City burned, she worked as a photographer for the New York Post, seeking images of creativity and play where others saw crime and poverty. As a result, she captured some of the first images of New York graffiti, at a time when the city had declared war on this new culture. Martha and her co-author Henry Chalfant compiled these images into the book Subway Art. However, the commercial failure of the book forced Martha to leave graffiti behind, moving on to document many other hidden cultures of New York.

20 years later Martha discovers she has become a legend of the graffiti world – a culture that has now exploded into a global movement. Subway Art became one of the most sold – and stolen – art books of all time, photocopied and shared by graffiti artists for decades.

At 75 years of age, Martha finds herself navigating a culture vastly changed.The small community born from struggle and adversity, has grown into a commercial industry fuelled by the rise of social media. Now every new piece of street art is immediately uploaded, and crowds line up for selfies in front of popular works. Martha struggles to find her place in this new world, driven by a passion for capturing the creativity that helps people rise above their environment.