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The Courteeners 'Next Time You Call' by Joe Connor

David Knight - 27th Jan 2015

This is another Courteeners video by their regular collaborator Joe Connor, but in something of a departure from their other work together, this one for Next Time You Call doesn't feature the band. Instead it's a portrait of Samantha Allen - ballerina turned wrestler.

Shot in London's East End, Joe captures the cinematic power and grace of Samantha in training, and then counterpoints it with black and white footage of her taking part in a bout of Luche Libre - the extravagantly theatrical form of Mexican wrestling in which performers usually wear masks. It's also now the core element of East London wrestling-cum-cabaret event Lucha Britannia, where Joe shot the bout footage last Halloween. And this is an alluring insight into a fascinating world...

JOE CONNOR:

"I’ve always had a fascination with Luchadore Wrestling, I think it’s a love of a masked performer, the personas, the aura, the characters, it’s always intrigued me as you can see from my first Band of Skulls video.  

"The story of Samantha Allen came to me from speaking to another friend of mine about Lucha Libre and more specifically the guys down at Lucha Britannia in Bethnal Green.  She instantly jumped out as a character that I think is destined to go on to bigger and greater things. She’s incredibly dedicated to the training and skills of wrestling, and as an ex-ballerina she moves with grace and poise around a ring and she’s also strong as hell.  

"It's cool to also focus on a strong female characters in what could be wrongly classed as a 'mans world' of wrestling - and Sam is a testament to that spirit of going toe to toe with anyone.  

"I want to thank Gary at Lucha Britannia for letting me come down on a busy Halloween night, Rob Cage for taking a beating off Sam take after take in this video, Jason Ellis for is beautiful cinematography as always, Elliott for keeping us all sane, Mark Whelan at the quarry for cutting this perfectly and Ian at Chief for the grade. 

"And if you haven’t been - get down to Lucha Britannia."

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David Knight - 27th Jan 2015

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  • Director's notes
  • Documentary
  • Promos
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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Producer
Production Company
Chief Productions

Camera

Director of Photography
Jason Ellis
1st AC
Joe Jamieson

Editorial

Editor
Mark Whelan
Editing company

Grading

Colourist
Ian McLaughlin
Colour grade company
Chief Productions

Agent

Director's Representation

Misc

Production Assistant
Margot Douglas
Production Assistant
Elliot Dollie
Runner
Paul Craig

Other credits

Thanks to

Samantha Allen, Rob Smith, Repton Boxing Club

David Knight - 27th Jan 2015

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