Have you ever wondered what life would be like if women ruled the world? If the women of the CLAW are any indication, it will be a compassionate, fair, dramatic, funny and gorgeous spectacle with plenty of Jack Daniels and ass shaking to go around.
Brian Wimer and Billy Hunt directed the documentary that bills itself as a “Feature length documentary on the Collective of Lady Arm Wrestlers, or CLAW. 50% theater, 50% Sport, 50% Fundraiser. 150% awesome.”
Billy Hunt says, “It has been really interesting being a man involved with a woman’s movement. I am so honored that these women allowed us into their lives, and let us try and tell their story. (I think it was Nostradamus who said ‘I’ll be the wind beneath your wings!’ That is how I feel about my role in CLAW. ) To Premiere the film in Charlottesville at the Virginia Film Festival, where it all started, and to have the women who started CLAW there, in costume, yelling like crazy people, was pretty badass.”
A mention of the Virginia event in BUST magazine set off a chain reaction with chapters popping up around the country. “BUST was a big part of CLAW blowing up, I think,” Hunt said. The film covers CLAW’s humble beginnings at the corner table of the Blue Moon Diner in Charlottesville, to Chicago, DC, New York, New Orleans and back again along with some thrills and chills and the national battle for the championship cape. At its heart, this is a film about the women whose lives were changed by this wonky hybrid of theatre and arm wrestling. It’s about how this movement evolved.
The film spent five years in production and is now looking for a distributor. For more information about the movie, see clawthemovie.com. Billy Hunt also produced a perfect book of photographs titled “A CLAW to Remember” You can view a slideshow here.
Malaina Poore
Images via CLAW The Movie
