About
With This Ring is an independent documentary about the women who make up the Indian national boxing team. Filmed over the course of six years in four countries.
Directed and produced by Ameesha Joshi & Anna Sarkissian | Featuring boxers Sarita Devi, MC Mary Kom and Chhoto Loura | Running time 90 mins | Country of origin Canada | Production 2006-2012 | Post-production 2013-2015 | World Premiere January 30, 2016
Awards Emerging Director, Documentary - Asian American International Film Festival | Honourable Mention - Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival
Festivals World Premiere: Mumbai International Film Festival, Mumbai, India | Opening Film: Cinema of Resistance Film Festival, Indore, India | Asian American International Film Festival, New York, United States | Atlantic Film Festival, Halifax, Canada | Chicago South Asian Film Festival, Chicago, United States | Mosaic International South Asian Film Festival, Mississauga, Canada | New York Indian Independent Film Festival, New York, United States
Screenings Amity University School of Communication, Noida, India | antiSOCIAL, New Delhi, India | Cinema Politica, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada | Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, India | The Humming Tree, Bangalore, India | India International Centre, Delhi, India | Maharaja Sayajirao University University of Baroda, Vadodara, India | National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India | Rotary Centre for the Arts, Kelowna, Canada | University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada | University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom | University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada
Want to organize a screening? Please get in touch.
DVD on sale now to educational institutions in the US and Canada via The Cinema Guild.
Beginnings
Our project started back in 2005, when Ameesha attended the World Press Photo exhibit in Montreal. She saw images of girls boxing on the beach in Chennai, India, by Danish photographer Miriam K.S. Dalsgaard. Growing up in an Indian household in Toronto, Ontario, she knew about the pressure young Indian women face to get married and how challenging it must be for them to pursue boxing.
After doing some research, she discovered that India not only had extensive boxing infrastructure for women, but also many international medals. At that point, she teamed up with Anna and flew to India for the 4th AIBA World Women's Boxing Championships, where the Indians made a clean sweep, winning medals in eight out of 13 categories. They became the number one team in the world.
With the help of numerous friends and volunteers, we documented the boxers' lives for the next six years.
Filming locations
India
Principal locations: Vizag, Imphal, Delhi, Hisar
We first traveled to India in 2006 for the AIBA World Women's Boxing Championships in Delhi, and returned three more times for visits of one to three months.
China
Ningbo, Quinhuangdao
We attended world championships with the team in 2008 and 2012, as well as the Olympic trials.
Barbados
Bridgetown
In 2010, we followed the boxers to Barbados for the world championships. Tough job, but somebody had to do it.
United Kingdom
Liverpool, London
MC Mary Kom, one of our characters, competed at the 2012 London Olympics. Anna joined her in Liverpool for training before the competition.
Travels in India
The boxers spend most of the year at national training camps in various parts of India. We lived with them to document their lives and intense regimen.
Every month or so, they return home to their families. We followed boxers Sarita Devi and MC Mary Kom to Imphal, Manipur, in the northeast, and Chhoto Loura to Balsamand near Hisar, Haryana. We spent time in Delhi and Mumbai as well, interviewing athletes, coaches and officials.
We also ate incredibly well (maybe a little too well) and were warmly received by wonderful hosts along the way. They have this expression that a guest is like God. There's nothing quite like Indian hospitality.
The editing process
Logging and translation
We started by taking detailed notes about the 200+ hours of footage we collected. Ameesha worked with a huge team of volunteer translators to subtitle interviews in Hindi, Manipuri, and nine other languages. Our good friend (and talented filmmaker) Tamara Taddeo helped us begin to shape the film. With so many characters and locations, we could have easily made five or six different documentaries.
Outreach
Along the way, we presented our project in classrooms and at conferences across Canada. We blogged for the National Film Board of Canada's CitizenShift (sadly it's no longer online) and spread the word using social media. The project was featured in Canadian and Indian magazines, newspapers, and websites.
The search
In 2012, we started looking for an editor. Since this was our first feature and we had so much footage, we wanted someone with experience and the right artistic approach. We met with many exceptional editors but couldn't afford to pay the industry rates of $30,000-40,000. After searching for nearly two years, we found the ideal candidate. Only problem was, she was a little too good (and therefore booked solid). We decided she was worth the wait.
A long-distance relationship
We finally started collaborating with Jackie Dzuba in January 2014. Throughout the editing process, we were based in Quebec while Jackie was 5,000 km away in western Canada. We met on Skype to exchange ideas and we reviewed cuts via Vimeo. It took a long time and we faced many hurdles, but we made it. We finally met Jackie (and her assistant editor, Baybee, above), in July 2015 for the first time.
Funding
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to everyone who liked, shared, and contributed to our project in any capacity.
Our budget was modest and we benefitted significantly from the generosity of many people we met along the way. We received several government grants but eventually ran out of financing options. As a condition of the artist grants we received, we needed to maintain full creative control of the project and so could not take money from executive producers and many other agencies.
Indiegogo
In August 2012, we reached out to our families, friends and supporters and asked for their help to fund the completion of our film. Through our crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, we raised over $21,000 online and in cash donations.
Thanks to your support, we were able to somehow convince several talented, experienced and in-demand professional artists to work on the film for months (and in some cases, years) for a small fraction of their usual rates. We are eternally grateful.
Thank you for your contributions!
- ANONYMOUS
- Adam Budd
- Aisling O'Gorman
- Alex Jansen
- Alexander Carson
- Alexandra Hubert
- Alexandre Leblanc
- Alexandre Saxena
- Alphonsie Nicolas
- Amber Goodwyn
- Amely Jurgenliemk
- Andrew
- Andrew Cutts
- Andrew Jarjour
- Andrew Lima
- Andrew Wanliss-Orlebar
- Andrew Wanner
- Angela Kaida
- Angela Li
- Angela Restuccia
- Anil Sanwalka
- Anne-Renée Hotte
- Antoine White Goodridge
- Aonan Yang
- Arnica Rowan
- Asher Vijay Yampolsky
- Ashwani, Amit, Pinki Jangra
- Avani Parikh
- Bao-Khanh Nguyen
- Benson Li
- Bita Haidarian Nossa
- Bonnie Coxford
- Bruce Carlini & Julia Talajic
- Carol Chong & Doug Smith
- Catherine Russell
- Cheryl Donison
- Chris Dyer
- Chris Kang
- Chris Malone
- Chris Wilson-Smith
- Christoph Monig
- Cinema Politica
- Coleen Smith
- Colin Raines
- Curtis Lobb
- Dabet & Sarah
- Dahiana Torres
- Darren Budd
- Daryl Aitken
- David Goligorsky
- David Weatherall
- Deb Vanslet
- Debbie Welch
- Debra Gehring
- Devin & Hyun Joo Joshi
- Dora Magovern
- Doru Lupeneau
- Earl Hong Tai
- Eddie Menz
- Elana Bannerman
- Eliane Elbogen
- Ellen & Glen Budd
- Elvire Thouvenot-Nitzan
- Emilie Gauthier
- Emilie Rousseau
- Emily Cholette
- Emily Gan
- Emily Pelstring
- Emmanuel Labat
- Eric Kitchen
- Faisal Sheniib
- François Bastien
- Gavin Fernandes
- Geraldine Taddeo
- Gina Haraszti
- Gopal Rengasamy (For my daughters)
- Gordon Bradley
- Gord Budd
- Gouri Prasad Kadakia
- Grace Cirocco
- Greg Wallace
- Hasit & Martina Shukla
- Hayley Baines
- Hayley Porteous
- Herma Marie Handinero
- Hisako Noguchi
- Hui WangIla Jadav
- Isabella Salas
- Isabelle Lemay
- Jackie Gallant
- James Allison
- James Yoxall
- Jane Meletis
- Janice Hilsen
- Jatinder Grewal
- Jeanne Gan
- Jeannine McNeil
- Jeffery Talajic
- Jennifer Cholette
- Jennifer McGuire
- Jenny Lin
- Jerome Bel
- Jerome Dunn
- Jessica Auer
- Johanne Pelletier
- John Christou
- John Kerns
- Josée Pedneault
- Josh Curk
- Josh Usheroff - Black Box Productions
- Juan Esteban Diaz
- Julia & Benton
- Julian Ua'Siaghail
- Julie Lang
- Julie Lapointe
- Julien Grégoire
- Justin Desforges
- K M Parizeau
- Kaoru Matsui
- Karen Teohkatherine benz
- Kevin Laforest
- Khurram Shehzad
- Kirit Shah
- Kirsten Cameron
- Kristopher Woofter
- Kyle Stanfield
- Leilani Cleveland Deveau & Rick Deveau
- Leonora Gangadeen-King
- Lisa Bledsoe
- Lisa Frigand
- Lisa Graves
- Liz Cormier
- Liz Miller
- Loretta Walton-Meyer
- Louis-Charles
- Louise Jones
- Madhu Raju
- Malissa Smith
- Manas Malhotra
- Marc Almon
- Maria Santaguida
- Marie Marguerite Sabonguy
- Marie McDonough
- Marie Pierre Lardeau
- Marina Popova
- Marina Stathopoulos
- Mario Talajic
- Mark Emil Hermansen
- Mary Wichterle
- Mathieu Gagnon
- Matthew Bell
- Matthew Wiviott
- Maya Yampolsky
- Meenakshi Malhotra
- Megan Armitage
- Megan Carlson
- Mia Donovan
- Michael Maher
- Michael Murray
- Michael O'Neill
- Michael-Oliver Harding
- Mimi Tang
- Mimi Zhou
- Minh Tu Ngoc Nguyen
- Mona Sharma
- Myriam Augustin
- Nancy McGuire
- Nancy Tang
- Natalie Donaher
- Neil McAlpine & Parool Joshi
- Nicholas Martin
- Nicole Guillemet
- Nika Khanjani
- Noa Seger
- Olga Schroeder
- Olive Bailey
- Olivier Marchand
- Ondine Roche
- Pamela Rigden-Snead
- Paresh Shukla
- Patrick Devey
- Paul & Meena Cleland
- Paula & Zaven Sarkissian
- Paula Irving
- Peggy Olsen
- Pen Hsia Ku
- Peter Rist
- Peter Simpson
- Phillipe Rostaing
- Pierre Tanguay
- Pravin Premkumar
- Priya Shah
- Priya Vaughan
- Rachel Birrell
- Rachel Donaldson
- Rachelle Yoxall
- Raewyn Curtis
- Raiomond Mirza
- Raymond Boucher
- Rebecca Stievater
- Rina Kamath
- Robert Soroka
- Robin Elliott
- Roger Maclean
- Roger Tellier-Craig
- Rohan Pai
- Rory Sarkissian
- Rosanna Maule
- Runa Bhattacharjee
- Russ Cooper
- Russell Sinclair
- Ruth Kaaserer
- Sabrina Ratté
- Sachin Prabu
- Sandeep Bhagwati
- Sandra Parente
- Sanjay Gokani
- Sarah Barr
- Sarah Gehrig
- Sarah Gotowka
- Sarah Pinchevsky
- Sasha Miguel
- Sheena Starky
- Shelagh Peden
- Shivani Manghnani
- Simon & Lea
- Simon Horn
- Simon Shu
- Stephane Grasso
- Stephanie Yorke
- Stephen Shaw
- Steve Faguy
- Stillfighting.org (Jay Vanian)
- Sue Johnson
- Susan Binder
- Suzan Gan
- Suzanne Rupp
- Taien Ng-Chan
- Tamara Taddeo
- Tamisha Harris
- Tanis Keiner
- Taylor Frawley
- Tery Palmer
- Thelma Dunn
- Thomas Destugues
- Todd Langille
- Tracey Lindeman
- Uadita Chandra Kumar
- Vachasputi Joshi
- Valère Gauthier
- Vincent Toi
- William Straw
- William Vallieres
- Xi Feng
- Xiaodan He
- Xiaojing Ge
- Yvonne Caples
- Zachary Finkelstein
- Zachary Kenny
- Zoe Constantinides
- Zoë Meletis
- Zoë Westhof
N.B. To our funders, names are listed as promised on the campaign page. If you decide you'd rather be incognito, just say the word. We understand completely and want to respect your privacy. Thank you for your support!
Equipment
We also want to sincerely thank several people who trusted us with their equipment when we didn't have any (in 2006) or when we needed a few extra bells and whistles (in 2012): Rohan Fernando, Tamara Taddeo, Kirsten Cameron, and Van Royko.
Institutional Support
The production of this film was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country.
Post-production assistance provided by the National Film Board of Canada's Filmmaker Assistance Program.
Production equipment provided by Concordia University Television in the spring of 2008.