Special Guest Contribution by Kenny Pete
Professional wrestling has been called many things over the years. Rarely is it ever referred to as an artistic medium to tell narrative tales. On the same weekend that a publicly traded, global sports entertainment company put on a special event that told stories that were made famous 15 years ago, the next generation of innovative and revolutionary performers have not just gone outside the box of sports entertainment, they have broken that box & redefined the presentation of traditional professional wrestling.
Chikara Pro has been an Eastern PA based independent professional wrestling company since 2002. With over-the-top lucha libre influenced characters, combined with excellent in-ring action and most importantly, story lines that did not insult the intelligence of the audience with strict attention to character development and detail, Chikara has always done their best to present an alternative to the status quo. After a steady build over a dozen years, the company was growing to new heights in the summer of 2012 when it all came crashing down on a fateful Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia PA.
The Ashes of Chikara is an independent film that tells the story of redemption, passion, conflict and triumph. As a wrestling company is shut down by an evil corporation, the unlikeliest of heroes steps forward to rally his cohorts to stand up and fight for what they have worked so hard to keep sacred. As each character’s stories weave in and out of the journey, you realize its not just another movie about pro wrestling but a very engaging story that will have you rooting for our hero and hoping for the villains to be vanquished once and for all. This is not a wrestling movie, it’s a character-driven movie using professional wrestling as a vehicle with in which to tell a story about a conquering hero who stood up for what he believed in no matter how tall the odds were stacked against him.
We attended the premiere in Collegetown PA arriving around 7:15 to catch the Red carpet festivities as the stars & creators of the film arrived to the theater & walked down the red carpet as a crowd took pictures. You can watch the live stream of the red carpet here – http://tinyurl.com/CHIKARMED
After the movie there was a Q&A session hosted by producer Billy Kumohara a/k/a @BillyKumo, who was joined by the director of photography Andre Bennett, editor Ruben Diaz and the lead in the movie, Icarus. Mentioned in the Q & A were the possibilities of film festivals, overcoming fears and the possibility of an edit of the film without Dan Yost, who this reporter thought did a fine job.
You can view the trailer The Ashes of Chikara, which will be available worldwide for streaming, download at http://theashesofchikara.com/
The movie will also be released as an MP4 only at Shop.WrestlingIs.com
For more info about Chikara visit www.chikarapro.com & http://chikarain15.com/
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