SMACKDOWN

Sumo this is not. Documentary filmmakers Kim Longinotto and Jano Williams follow the lives of professional female Japanese wrestlers, inspired by the costumes and theatrics of the WWF, and their brutal training regime in Gaea Girls (2000). The film tells the stories of several of the recruits in their training camp, which is an iron shed in the countryside that also doubles as their living quarters. One hard-to-watch tale is that of Saika Takeuchi, an aspiring wrestler who is taunted by the other Gaea women and, after continuous blows, is told she’s not tough enough for the ring. Will you be tough enough to watch?

Fri., March 23, 7:30 p.m., 2012