I teach filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago - where we always have the film vs DV discourse, especially in documentary. I use both, but I am a film lover.

One thing that I am struck with is that my film used to weigh one ounce on DV... now the 35mm film print weighs in at 47 lbs! Ready for the big screen release by Koch Lorber Films in NYC on March 25th at the Angelika. An amazing job of digital-to-film by Cinema Concepts in Atlanta, GA.

Just back from the Sarasota Film festival with Lipstick & Dynamite - where wrestlers Ella Waldek and Ida May Martinez came to receive their fans. In a place where 40 is young, the girls (now in their 70's and 80's) were in their element. They even offered to throw actor Dennis Farina (Law and Order) and legendary singer Lainie Kazan in a headlock on the red carpet.

Ella Waldek's daughter Jackie came and saw the film for the first time- she remembers only too well, as a child watching her mother from the stands getting the pulp beaten out of her. Also in attendance were original golden gal wrestler Bonnie (Watson) Schwartz and her husband referee Stu Schwartz.

But one of the best things that comes from these festival screenings, is overhearing blue-haired ladies saying, "I never knew that a story about girl wrestling could be so touching" - Then one turns to the gruff Ella Waldek remembering, " I used to watch you on TV on Dayton Ohio every week... I never knew what happened to you all these years." Which brought tears to Miss Waldek's eyes.

Pictured here: Ella, Bonnie, Ida May on the Sarasota red carpet

Before Hulk Hogan, The Rock, and the stars of Vince McMahon’s WWE took pro wrestling to new heights in American culture, pro wrestling was a small, relatively disorganized network of small time promoters, con-men, and over-the-top characters who brought their unique brand of showmanship to audiences around the nation. A cornerstone of the success of these promotions was the rise of women’s professional wrestling in the 1940’s and 50’s. Lipstick and Dynamite is a look into the lives of the women who made their living on the professional wrestling circuit.

Full of outstanding archival footage of wrestlers like The Fabulous Moolah and Johnnie Mae Young, Lipstick and Dynamite is primarily concerned with the lives of hardship and hard work these superstars of the ring created for themselves. It could have been the sex, money, injuries, and intrigue that dominated their lives on the road, but the competitive passion of these women have for their sport shines through in director Ruth Leitman’s touching portrait of women who lived hard, and fought even harder.