Gaea Girls (2000)
This fascinating documentary is based around the Japanese wrestling organisation Gaea's rural training camp, and traces, in the main, the careers of four hopefuls. In charge are two magnificent specimens, the butch champion Chigusa Nagayo, still venting her hurt at the hands of her army father as she tries to whip her surrogate daughters through the pain and commitment barriers; and her sophisticated and slightly menacing Chairman. It's a gruelling, physical film, as you would expect, but the makers don't make heavy weather of it. And it certainly disposes of any idea that the game is faked.
Directors: Jano Williams, Kim Longinotto.
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Chigusa Nagayo as Herself |
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Meiko Satomura as Herself |
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Yuka Sugiyama as Herself |
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Saika Takeuchi as Herself |
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Hisako Sasaki as |
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Tomoko Kitamura as Lioness Asuka |
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Sonoko Kato as |
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Kaoru Maeda as KAORU |
| Directing | Jano Williams | Director |
| Directing | Kim Longinotto | Director |
| Writing | Kim Longinotto | Writer |
| Writing | Jano Williams | Writer |
| Production | Jano Williams | Producer |
| Production | Kim Longinotto | Producer |
| Production | David Pearson | Executive Producer |
| Camera | Kim Longinotto | Director of Photography |
| Editing | Brian Tagg | Editor |
| Sound | Mary Milton | Sound Recordist |
