2019 notes from Director/Co-Founder Soo Cole

2019 was a challenging year, but from it came some growth, and the team really pulled together to bring us some great experiences and memories. 

The year of the Pig was our fourth year running the Fighting Spirit Film Festival in London and the second time we were able to run the Fighting Spirit Birmingham event at the lovely Mockingbird Cinema.  Birmingham expanded this year’s programme with the screenings of both Master Z and Triple Threat, and our patron Scott Adkins was in attendance and able to do a Q&A after the film, and Tony Jaa sent a message to all the attendees.

Fighting Spirit 2019 once again returned to Stratford Picturehouse with a full 2 day programme consisting of six separate screenings, a seminar, a live graffiti commission, and more merchandise than ever before. We screened our first ever Vietnamese film Loi Bao and had a Q&A with the action producer Jason Ninh Cao, and action director Vincent Wang, an exclusive screening of The Mercenary (digitally releasing this month through Evolutionary Films), the 4K screening of Dragons Forever in association with 88 Films, the timeless classic Zhang Yimou film Hero, and 26 short films.

This year’s short films were more diverse than the years before. They included LGBT representation, science-fiction themes, more female representation both in front and behind the camera, and a wider range of international submissions. We added new awards, welcomed a new judge, and the screenings were more popular than ever.

To add to that we were also honoured to run a few special screenings this year for Avengement, Mr Vampire, and Ip Man 4 and it was great to see familiar faces and also make new acquaintances. 

In 2020 we will again be bringing Fighting Spirit to Birmingham in April/May time and of course we will be in London in September. There may also be a few other surprises, so keep your eye on our social media accounts!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported the festival by coming to see the films, making films for us to screen, demonstrating your passion for the genre through attending or performing and telling others about us and what you have experienced. By supporting the genre we hope that it will encourage funding for the talented people out there to create films that will entertain us by thrilling us, making us enquire, and discuss what we have seen and inspire us. 

For 2020, the Year of the Rat we will be looking to build on what we have achieved in the past few years. There may be some new beginnings too and we look forward to you joining us! 

Soo

Thanks to the FIghting Spirit Team and honorary members: Clayre, Es, Eli, LJ, Elara, Jessa, Kaloyan, Mimi, Akin, Tim, Weng, Will, Ron, Mike, Dario, and Matt.

Thanks to our Judges: Mike, Sindy, Jon, Chris, Richard, and Joaquin.

Thanks to our patrons: Ross, Scott, Jesse, and Martin, and in 2020 we will welcome Mark Strange as a new patron.

Thanks to everyone who performed demonstrations this year: Sam and Steve, Linford and his team, Judah, Max, Heng Ren, Heng Shang, Master Kwok and his team.

Special thanks to: Stratford Picturehouse, Hackney Picturehouse, The Mockingbird Cinema, WellgoUSA, 88 Films, Fortune Star, JNC Productions, Chanh Phong Phim Productions, Evolutionary Films, Dazzler Media, Park Circus, Warrior Agency, BEATS, The Hong Kong Trade and Economic Office, Challenging Productions, Film Birmingham, Fighters Inc, Combat and Strength, Far Town Entertainment, Martial Way Training, Mind Fishing, Gabby Kere, Dial M for Magic, MJR Productions, Ethnic Reach PR, Art and Passion Photo, Iron Dragon TV, No Identity, Cortosonici, Terracotta Films, Cineasia Trinity, Chinese Visual Festival, Ramon Writes, Kung Fu Movie Guide, World of Martial Arts, i400 Calci, Eastern Film Fans, FJK Action, Film Combat Syndicate, Movie Rankers, The DTV Digest, The Fan Carpet, Neo Magazine, Flash Bang Movie Review, Mr Butella, Terry Hobson, Paul Ridd, Zara Phythian, Dan Styles, Jason Ninh Cao, Vincent Wang, Dominque Vandenberg, Tony Jaa, Donnie Yen, Chris Collins, Vanness Wu, Nick Moran, Thomas Turgoose, Stuart Small, Joe Karimi-Nik, and all the film makers, and all those who have come and supported the festival over the years.