Long Treks on Skate Decks

07:14

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In January 2009 three professional Longboarders set off on a journey to traverse two ranges of Andes mountains… on skateboards.doc.6zik.com

They carry with them all they need over their two month voyage on their backs. Their route has been described as one of the hardest paved bicycle-touring routes in the world.doc.6zik.com

They will face arid desert, lush sub tropical environments, and mountain passes over 14,000 feet tall. The Dangers on the trip are not just limited to the harsh terrain, or their lack of supplies.doc.6zik.com

They spend countless hours of the day dealing with loosely regulated traffic, wild dogs, injuries and malnutrition, their Spanish vocabularies are rudimentary at best and they have been warned that even the locals could pose serious threats. Not to mention the risk they take riding skateboards down 200 km long decent while donning 30-40 pound packs.doc.6zik.com

Paul Kent is a world record holder, Adam Colton, world famous for his freestyle riding, and Aaron Enevoldsen a young extreme sports junky with an ukulele, document their travels in this series. Experience with them a trip of a lifetime through a magical, beautiful land seldom seen by Westerners.

Watch the full doc.6zik.com now (playlist – 2 hours, 38 minutes)

Pumping Iron

13:05

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Arnold Schwarzenegger gained his first real notoriety outside body-building circles with this documentary about a group of men training for the Mr. Olympia contest.

Arnold had already won the title five times before, and was training for his sixth victory before retiring to fully pursue his acting career (which began to catch fire with his likable turn in Stay Hungry, released the same year) when this was shot.

Here he displays an easy charm and wicked sense of humor as he plays mind games with his competitors and explains how getting pumped up for competition always felt like sex (which might explain why he seems so cheerful).

When We Were Kings

12:56

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When We Were Kings Part1

When We Were Kings Part2

When We Were Kings Part3

When We Were Kings Part4

When We Were Kings
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Believe the hype. This much-praised documentary about one of the most famous boxing matches in history deserves every one of its accolades. Blending sports drama and biography with a touch of political analysis, When We Were Kings relates the who, when, where, and most importantly the why of the 1974 George Foreman/Muhammad Ali world championship fight in Zaire.

Splicing together old news footage, photos, and contemporary interview clips, director Leon Gast captures the excitement and chaos that led up to the famed “Rumble in the Jungle” and the incredible characters and events surrounding the thrilling bout.

The documentary explores a gamut of issues that defined the 1970s and impacted the African-American community: the Vietnam War and the draft, the nascent “Black is Beautiful” movement and idealization of Mother Africa, and the brutal reality of post-colonial dictatorships. But it is the charismatic and bombastic Muhammad Ali at the center of it all who steals the show with the sheer force of his inimitable personality. When We Were Kings reminds us why…

Murderball

12:26

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Better known as Wheelchair Rugby, Murderball is a game created by quadriplegic athletes that is every bit as aggressive as the name would lead one to expect; played with bone-breaking intensity, a typical game of Wheelchair Rugby involves plenty of trash-talking, a few head-on collisions, and the occasional player being thrown from his modified wheelchair. The game has become an official event at the Paralympics, a worldwide competition for handicapped athletes, and the United States and Canada have become fierce rivals in the event. When Joe Soares was dropped from the top-seated American team, he angrily retaliated by signing on as coach for the Canadian team, which he led to an upset victory for Team Canada in the games.

In 2004, filmmaker Henry Alex Rubin and journalist Dana Adam Shapiro followed both teams as they traveled to Athens, Greece, for the 2004 Paralympics, documenting the fierce competition between the two teams (especially the Americans, bitterly stung by what they saw as Soares’ betrayal).

Murderball offers an up-close look at the 2004 Wheelchair Rugby tournament, as well as the personal stories of the athletes who are passionate, driven, and determined to win — as one of them says, “I’m not here for a hug, I’m here for a medal.” Murderball earned an enthusiastic reception in its premier…

Hoop Dreams

12:22

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This much-celebrated documentary from 1994 follows the life of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two young Chicago basketball players who share the familiar dream of college scholarships and eventual NBA stardom. Pruned from 250 hours of footage, the riveting 3-hour film spans five years in the lives of these young black men, starting as they prepare to enter St. Joseph’s, the predominantly white Catholic high school that helped shape NBA legend Isiah Thomas.

Examining the pressures and the incredibly long odds facing even créme-de-la-créme athletes, director Steve James artfully balances the triumphs and suspense with pathos — including Arthur Agee’s return to a high school in the inner city. Although there’s more than enough exciting basketball footage, James and his cowriter Frederick Marx, capture their most dramatic moments in Gates and Agee’s off-the-court experiences.

For anyone lured by the extraordinary highs of the sporting life, Hoop Dreams emphasizes that the lows can be just as significant. It’s easy to see why this remarkable film provoked a huge outcry when it failed to receive an Academy Award nomination in the Documentary category: No other film has ever explored this triumphant and heartaching court of dreams…

Riding Giants

12:18

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The set piece of this hyperbolic ode to surfing is Laird Hamilton’s 2000 trip to Tahiti, where a monster wave provided the opportunity for what the movie portentously calls “the most significant ride in surfing history.” If you’re inclined to regard the sport as important and its practitioners as heroic, you’ll likely enjoy this beautifully photographed documentary, which presents Hamilton as a towering figure.

Certainly he’s responsible for much of the sport’s current popularity: A fierce competitor who seems genuinely driven, he’s a popular cover boy who’s landed modeling assignments and lucrative endorsement deals that include an American Express commercial.

Writer-director Stacy Peralta depicts Hamilton and his fellow surfers as not only dedicated but even obsessive, chasing the biggest waves with the single-minded determination of Captain Ahab pursuing Moby-Dick. Peralta’s images testify to the physical battering surfers undergo, and the onscreen participants pay tribute to brethren who lost their lives

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

12:14

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Pop culture junkies tend to think of Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as entertainment figures. In Poughkeepsie, NY, back in the 1980s, filmmaker Christopher Bell and his brothers viewed them as heroes and became bodybuilders. Like the Hulkster, Mike and Mark Bell even turned to professional wrestling. Chris, a former staffer at Venice’s famous Gold’s Gym, doesn’t use anabolic steroids–he did try them once–but his heroes have and his brothers do, leading him to look deeper at this increasingly common practice.

While Bell explores the health costs of juicing, he’s mostly concerned with the moral consequences involved in the use of performance-enhancing substances. Though he refrains from judgment, he stopped taking steroids because it felt dishonest. Naturally, his burly brothers feel otherwise. Aside from his family, Bell speaks with doctors, lawyers, congressmen, gym rats, and professional athletes, like Olympic sprinters Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis and Tour de France cyclist Floyd Landis.

He also includes footage of José Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire testifying during the federal grand jury and congressional hearings on steroid use in the major leagues (prompted by the publication of Canseco’s Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big). For the most part, Bell doesn’t leave any stone unturned and the personal nature of his entertaining and enlightening inquiry elevates Bigger, Stronger, Faster, i.e. The Side Effects of Being American, above your average exposé. Recommended to athletes, sports fans, health nuts, and of course, pop culture junkies

Bruce Lee: In His Own Words

12:11

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Bruce Lee (27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was an American-born martial artist, philosopher, instructor, martial arts actor and the founder of the Jeet Kune Do combat form.

He was widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the twentieth century and a cultural icon. He was also the father of actor Brandon Lee and of actress Shannon Lee. Lee was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Hong Kong.

His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked the first major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West.

The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world as well. Lee became an iconic figure particularly to the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese national pride and Chinese nationalism in his movies. He primarily practiced Chinese martial arts (Kung Fu).

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine

11:58

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Garry Kasparov is arguably the greatest chess player who has ever lived. In 1997 he played a chess match against IBM’s computer Deep Blue. Kasparov lost the match. This film shows the match and the events surrounding it from Kasparov’s perspective. It delves into the psychological aspects of the game, paranoia surrounding it and suspicions that have arisen around IBM’s true tactics. It consists of interviews with Kasparov, his manager, chess experts, and members of the IBM Deep Blue team, as well as original footage of the match itself.

The good parts of the movie is that you have interviews with Kasparov and the IBM team. Kasparov is a charming guy. The IBM team are open and friendly. The movie shows both the bad and good sides of Kasparov, who displays dignity and his temper when he is being pushed around by IBM. The Deep Blue team are interesting, but the IBM company does not come off well. They milk the match for all advertising they could get. The movie keeps touting that it was a victory of machine intelligence over Man, but the point I get from it is, several computer geeks and chess grand masters after years of effort can put together a program that can barely beat a world champion, if they take every single psychological and technical advantage they can.

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait

11:56

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An intriguing premise for a full-length feature, the idea behind Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is simple. Back in April of 2005, Real Madrid–replete with Zinedine Zidane, arguably the world’s finest footballer at the time–played Villareal in the Spanish league. At that game, seventeen cameras were all trained on Zidane.

The film? At heart, it’s 90 minutes of following the great man around a football field. Yet it’s fascinating. Really. Save for the odd subtitled comment, and a not-entirely-comfortable compilation of the day’s news that’s interspersed at half time, the focus is purely one man playing a game of football. It’s not a raging success by any means, and there are moments in Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait where the interest level significantly drops. Yet when it works, it really works astoundingly well, and you’d be hard-pushed to find any other film that does anything even vaguely similar. It’s backed, it should be noted, with excellent supporting music too.

The 2006 World Cup, of course, gave Zidane’s career an ending it never really deserved. And while Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait isn’t a dish that everyone’s going to warm to, those that do will surely be left reflecting on one of football’s greatest geniuses, rather than one mad moment in Germany. Turner Prize-winning artist and filmmaker Douglas Gordon teams up with French artist Philippe Parreno to create a work glorious in its simplicity.

A Different Pitch

11:52

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From the rutted football pitches and lethal minefields of Kosovo, comes the compelling story of a football dream amid the on-going Balkan nightmare.

Filmmaker Doug Aubrey follows football coach Scotty Lee on a near heart-of-darkness type journey through a country scarred by inter-ethnic hatred and littered with the lethal debris of NATO’s war.

A Different Pitch is a unique and at times shocking grass-roots insight into the effects of war on a generation.

It is a timely reminder that Football, the people’s game, is not just a way of life, but can actually help save lives.

Human Weapon: Karate

11:48

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Hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff travel to Okinawa, Japan, the home of one of the most famous and deadly martial arts, Karate.

Their journey takes them to a 600 year-old castle where they spend time practicing Iron Body Training.

An ancient temple where they learn heart-stopping vital point strikes and go through training regiments of ancient Karate masters.

And finally leading to a Kumite (sparring match) with a real black belt, and Okinawan Champion fighter.

Facing Goliath

11:43

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He’s in his fifties, he’s never been in shape, and he’s going blind. In one year, how much change can a man see in himself before he no longer has the use of his sight? A year ago, Ray found out he was gradually losing his remaining eye sight, so he contacted Sebastian to find out if getting into better physical condition might keep him out of a depression.

Sebastian challenged him to a twelve-week physique transformation. By taking up that challenge Ray lost forty pounds. Now almost a year later, Ray is discovering that he may have only a few months left to see anything. Sebastian, a natural bodybuilder, is returning to compete on the non-drug tested national bodybuilding stage, hoping to prove that the sports natural origins are more impressive than many of the less natural physiques of today.

Facing Goliath demonstrates that the strength of a determined heart is far more powerful than any muscular physique. Originally setting out to paint himself as the hero, Sebastian began helping his middle-aged friend, Ray Taylor, to confront the prospect of going blind by transforming himself into muscular specimen. Sebastian believed the story would end with Ray inspired and awe struck, as he loyally watched his heroic trainer rise onward to national competitive victory.

But after failing to reach his competitive goals, Sebastian witnesses Ray achieving more than anyone thought possible. Through taking hold of his emotional and physical condition, Ray journeys beyond his limitations to discover what is possible when you believe there are no limits. (Excerpt from

David Beckham – A Footballers Story

11:39

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2006 is a massive year for David Beckham. He has the chance, as captain, to lead England to World Cup glory in Germany. In the build up to the tournament that could mark the pinnacle of his career, Beckham talks to Tim Lovejoy in an exclusive documentary for ITV1 on his extraordinary journey to the top.

Beckham looks back on his life, explaining how the skinny boy from Leytonstone grew up to become one of the world’s most idolised footballers, and discusses how it feels to be perceived as one of the true greats of football. He picks out the games, goals, events and characters that shaped his career and transformed him into the international football superstar he is today.

ITV’s cameras follow David as he prepares for the biggest summer of his career, training with Real Madrid, practising his legendry free kicks, playing against Arsenal in the Champions League and facing the media at England football team’s press conferences.

Beckham looks ahead, revealing some of his ambitions for the future. One already in motion is his new pride and joy: the David Beckham Academy. A key part of his football legacy, David gives a personal tour of these state of the art coaching facilities in London which he hopes will give something back to the game which has given so much to him.

Original Wing Chun

11:34

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Original Wing Chun is one hour documentary that looks at the root of the Wing Chun art looking at old and rare footages of Yip Man and Bruce Lee at his early stages. Wing Chun also romanized as Ving Tsun or Wing Tsun is a Chinese martial art that specializes in close-range combat.

Wing Chun was originally passed down from teacher to student orally rather than through written documentation, making it difficult to confirm or clarify the differing accounts of its creation. Some have sought to apply the methods of higher criticism to the oral histories of Wing Chun and other Chinese martial arts.

Others have attempted to discern the origins of Wing Chun by determining the specific purpose of its techniques. Mentions of the art start to appear in independent third-party documentation during the era of the Wing Chun master Leung Jan, making its subsequent history and divergence into various branches more amenable to documentary verification.

The common legend involves the young woman Yim Wing Chun (Wing Chun literally means beautiful springtime or praising spring) at the time after the destruction of the Southern Shaolin and its associated temples by the Qing government. After Wing Chun rebuffs the local warlord’s marriage offer, he says he’ll rescind his proposal if she can beat him in a martial art match.

She asks a Buddhist nun- Ng Mui, who was one of the Shaolin Sect survivors, to teach her boxing; this still nameless style enables Yim Wing Chun to defeat the warlord. She thereafter marries Leung Bac-Chou and teaches him the style, which he names after her.

Marathon Challenge

11:29

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How do you run 26.2 miles if you have trouble making it around the block? With good coach­ing, discipline, and lots of group support, as NOVA shows when it follows 13 generally sedentary people through a training regimen designed to prepare them for an ultimate test of stamina and endurance. Created in cooperation with the Boston Athletic Association®, which granted NOVA unprec­edented access to the 111th Boston Marathon®, and Tufts University, “Marathon Challenge” takes viewers on a unique adventure inside the human body, tracking the physiological changes that exercise can bring about.

Former Olympian and three-time Boston Marathon winner Uta Pippig offers advice and inspiration to NOVA’s runners throughout their training. And veteran Tufts University coach Donald Megerle guides them week-by-week through an onslaught of physical and psychological challenges. NOVA’s runners range in age from 22 to 60, and they come to the endeavor with a wide range of medical histories and backgrounds. They share one thing in common: none has ever run a marathon before.

Team NOVA includes Betsey, a hospital administrator who became substantially overweight while recovering from surgery; Jonathan, a hard-charging CEO and father of five whose marriage is breaking apart; Sama, a reformed smoker mourning the recent death of her mother to a hit-and-run driver; Larry, a social worker and 14-year survivor of a serious heart attack; Xenia, a woman turning 40 and struggling with being an “aging sedentary physician”; and Steve, a Harley-riding former NFL linebacker who sees the marathon as a novel challenge for someone used to running only a few yards before tackling an opponent.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

11:21

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The Ending

In the early 1980s, legendary Billy Mitchell set a Donkey Kong record that stood for almost 25 years.

This documentary follows the assault on the record by Steve Wiebe, an earnest teacher from Washington who took up the game while unemployed.

The top scores are monitored by a cadre of players and fans associated with Walter Day, an Iowan who runs Funspot, an annual tournament.

Wiebe breaks Mitchell’s record in public at Funspot, and Mitchell promptly mails a video tape of himself setting a new record. So Wiebe travels to Florida hoping Mitchell will face him for the 2007 Guinness World Records. Will the mind-game-playing Mitchell engage; who will end up holding the record?

Baby Faced Bodybuilders

11:14

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Most of us go to the gym to lose weight and subtly tone our bodies – if we go at all. And most of us think bodybuilders look gross and unnatural. So why is it that some teenagers are dedicating their lives to this extreme sport?

This surprising, energetic and gripping documentary follows teenagers whose bodybuilding obsession is so extreme it’s becoming a clinical problem. We delve into the minds of three young bodybuilders and discover how they got to the point where they wanted to be weirdly big.

Danny is preparing for his first big competition by transforming his body in a matter of weeks. He is ‘bigorexic’ – psychologically obsessed with being big – and it has taken over his life. Meanwhile 15- year-old Chapelle excitedly plans a trip to meet her heroine Avril, a female bodybuilding legend.

We reveal how an obsession with bodybuilding can rule your life. And we talk to their families and friends to find out what they think of it all.

Strictly Baby Fight Club

11:11

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The Cutting Edge strand enters the competitive and sometimes obsessive world of child Thai boxing, focusing on four families who are investing everything into making their kids the best young fighters in Britain.

Children as young as four or five are becoming the latest recruits to organized fighting, where some people’s attitude is that if you’re good enough to fight, you’re old enough.

The programme follows five primary school children: Miah and her twin brother Kian, Thai, Connor and Sohan.

The documentary looks at the extraordinary fitness regimes undertaken by some of the children, and hears from the parents who are passionate about the positive effects that Thai boxing has had both on the kids themselves, and on their relationships with them.

Once Brothers

11:09

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Drazen Petrovic and Vlade Divac were two friends who grew up together sharing the common bond of basketball. Together, they lifted the Yugoslavian National team to unimaginable heights.

After conquering Europe, they both went to America where they became the first two foreign players to attain NBA stardom. But with the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991, Yugoslavia split up. A war broke out between Petrovic’s Croatia and Divac’s Serbia.

Long buried ethnic tensions surfaced. And these two men, once brothers, were now on opposite sides of a deadly civil war. As Petrovic and Divac continued to face each other on the basketball courts of the NBA, no words passed between the two.

Then, on the fateful night of June 7, 1993, Drazen Petrovic was killed in an auto accident. Once Brothers will tell the gripping tale of these two men, how circumstances beyond their control tore apart their friendship, and whether Divac has ever come to terms with the death of a friend before they had a chance to reconcile.