For years, Hollywood has turned to the world of sport for inspiration, producing films about sports people, teams and coaches who have defied the odds and overcome challenges to rise to the top - or who have at least given it a damn good shot.

Sport provides great drama, it produces stories filled with passion and desire, triumph and despair. Films such as Raging Bull, Chariots of Fire, Rocky,Remember the Titians, The Wrestler, Field of Dreams and Moneyball aren’t just ‘great sports’ films, they’re great films that can be enjoyed by anyone who loves watching humanity at it’s best, and worst.

But sport also provides great reality, and this month Rialto Documentary is screening a handful of sports documentaries that will have you laughing one minute, and crying the next.

For years, Hollywood has turned to the world of sport for inspiration, producing films about sports people, teams and coaches who have defied the odds and overcome challenges to rise to the top - or who have at least given it a damn good shot.

Sport provides great drama, it produces stories filled with passion and desire, triumph and despair. Films such as Raging Bull, Chariots of Fire, Rocky, Remember the Titians, The Wrestler, Field of Dreams and Moneyball aren’t just ‘great sports’ films, they’re great films that can be enjoyed by anyone who loves watching humanity at it’s best, and worst.

But sport also provides great reality, and this month Rialto Documentary is screening a handful of sports documentaries that will have you laughing one minute, and crying the next.

If you’re after inspiration, then you can’t go past Oscar nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker’s documentary, The Crash Reel (Thursday 27^th March, 8.30pm).  The film tells the story of half pipe snowboarding legend Kevin Pearce who in the lead up to the Vancouver Olympics crashed on a training run, barely surviving. Walker’s film flashes back showing us how Kevin’s rose through the ranks to become one of the top two half pipe snowboarders in the world and the devastating effect Kevin’s brain injury had on him and his family. The documentary continues to follow Kevin, his family and friends as they come to grips with the on going effect and challenges of this brain injury.

Walker’s film is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking, and I can’t wait to talk to Kevin in a couple of weeks about the making of this documentary and his life now. You’ll be able to read the interview in my blog on Thursday 27^th March. 

I was also surprised by the level of emotion on display in another sports documentary that is screening during March, Stacy Peralta’s Bones Brigade: An Autobiography.

Peralta is fast becoming a legend when it comes to sports documentaries – if I had to write a list of the best extreme sports documentaries of all time, Peralta’s Riding Giants and Dogtown and Z-Boys would be very near the top of it.  

A pro-skater in the 70s, he created his own team of very young skaters in the early 80s called the Bones Brigade. He’s the guy that discovered, nurtured and supported skaters such as Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero, Rodney Mullen, Mike McGill, Tommy Guerrero and Lance Mountain to name a few.

Bones Brigade: An Autobiography is just that, a look back to the 80s when skating began to fade in popularity, only to be brought back into the public eye by some of the most recognizably names in the sport today. But, this isn’t just a story about an incredible team of skaters who re-invented and re-invigorated skating in the 80s, it’s also a film filled with very personal, coming-of-age stories about a group of misfits who found their place in the world. It’s a surprisingly honest, emotional journey they take us on, and recently I spoke to Stacy Peralta about the making of Bones Brigade, you can read that interview in my blog on March 20^th.

Also screening this month is the funny, intense and ballsy Storm Surfers (Thursday 13^th March, 8.30pm). 
You don’t have to be a surfer to appreciate this documentary following Aussie tow-surfing legend Ross Clarke-Jones and two-time World Champion Tom Carroll as they surf the biggest waves in the world. In previous films they’ve surfed New Zealand, Japan and South Africa, and this time they catch ocean breaks around Australia. The opening sequence is breathtaking as we watch the 49 year-old Tom Carroll disappear under a gigantic wave, and it never lets up from there. The scenery and footage is stunning, the surfing incredible and the waves – enormous and terrifying. 

And finally, screening tonight (Thursday 6^th March) is Like Water, a documentary that follows middleweight mixed marital arts champion Anderson Silva (nickname The Spider) as he prepares to defend his Ultimate Fighting Championship title. It’s a tough, grisly sport, but this personal and intimate documentary offers a different perspective on both the sport and those involved in it.

It’s going to be a gnarly month folks, enjoy.