“Wrestle” was shown in the Ball Hall Auditorium on Oct. 21 as the second film of the semester in the Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers.
The documentary follows the lives of Jailan, Jamario, Jaquan and Teague, four students at J. O. Johnson High School in Huntsville, Alabama. These four students were part of the Johnson wrestling team, led by their coach Chris Scribner. The film documents their journey to the state championship throughout the school year, in addition to the tensions off the mat, including teen pregnancy, drug use, poverty, racial tensions and mental health.
Starting in July 2015, Director Suzannah Herbert and Co-Director Lauren Belfer traveled to Huntsville to meet the team during summer training. The inspiration for the film derived from previous conversations from a friend.
“The wrestlers had only been wrestling for a few years, yet they were beating kids who had been wrestling since they were five,” Herbert said. “They were this new team, and I heard about them then went down for training camp and was immediately struck by just their compassion to tell their stories, and I thought that wrestling would be a great lens through which to explore broader issues that we face as a society today.”
Due to the intensity of these situations, the directors always allowed the subject to have a say in what can be filmed.
“Anytime they asked us not to film we respected that 100%,” Herbert said. “Especially early on in the process, as they were getting used to getting to know us and us getting to know them, also getting used to having cameras be a presence in their lives.”
Belfer said that despite not having a previous involvement in sports, she was impressed with the team’s bond and physicality.
“I was very drawn to seeing how much this team played a family-like role for these kids who were looking to find a way to find focus and better themselves and their situations and really strive to be something that I think a lot of people really did not expect them to become,” Belfer said. “It was just really inspirational to see how much passion they had for the sport. Even though that is not my personal passion, it is incredible how much they dedicated themselves every single day.”
Following the film, the audience participated in a Q&A session with the filmmakers and shared refreshments in the lobby.
Moving forward, Herbert hopes this documentary opens the eyes of audience members and changes the stereotypes these communities face.
“It is easy to read statistics and know where we’re struggling as a society and in our country, but to really see people go through it is powerful and important,” Herbert said. “It exposes audiences and people to lives and stories they otherwise would never see the human element of.”
“Float” will be the final film screening of the semester and will be shown in the Ball Hall Auditorium on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
