Cleveland indie wrestling gets spotlight in documentary debuting at CIFF
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"Slowburn Shoot" takes you behind the scenes of the indie wrestling scene. Photos: Courtesy of TRG Multimedia
Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) has been body-slamming its way around the Midwest for more than 20 years, but is just now getting the main-event treatment.
The intrigue: The spotlight comes courtesy of "Slowburn Shoot: An Indie Wrestling Story," a documentary debuting April 13 at the Cleveland International Film Festival.
- It's directed by Adam Wilde, president of TRG Multimedia, a production company at the center of Northeast Ohio's burgeoning film scene.
State of play: "Slowburn Shoot" pulls back the curtain on the independent wrestling industry by looking at the lives of wrestlers who have performed in AIW.
- "We're taking you behind the spectacle and showing you the passion, the heart, the community that they've built," Wilde tells Axios. "I think it really transcends into a human story more than just a wrestling story."
Flashback: Cleveland-based AIW was founded by John Thorne in 2005. The company has hosted more than 300 events throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and beyond.
- It has served as a stomping ground for wrestlers like Kevin Owens, Britt Baker and Cleveland native Johnny Gargano, all of whom have gone on to larger promotions.
Between the lines: Wilde's first exposure to AIW came in 2016 when he attended Gargano's final match before signing with WWE.
- "I've never seen so much emotion," Wilde says. "He did an hourlong match and it was amazing. I was just in awe of that."
- Wilde worked with Thorne to secure interviews with Gargano, Baker and others for the documentary.
The big picture: Wilde produced "Slowburn Shoot" through TRG, which has a 160,000-square-foot production studio in Brooklyn that can accommodate Hollywood-level productions.
- The film "Buddy," which screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival, was shot there.
What they're saying: "A studio like TRG was the missing piece for filmmakers in Northeast Ohio," says "Buddy" producer Tyler Davidson.
- "Now we can host big studio films that would have otherwise been shot on stages in places like Atlanta or the U.K."
Zoom in: Wilde sees the premiere of "Slowburn Shoot" as a big moment for both TRG and AIW.
- "There couldn't be a better place for this film to land than the Cleveland International Film Festival."