Renzo Gracie Legacy

Renzo Gracie Legacy is a documentary about Brazilian jiu jitsu pioneer Renzo Gracie shot over a ten year period. It shows the origins of the sport of Mixed martial arts from it's bare knuckle days to the explosion of the sport in both Japan and America.
The Sport
Renzo is from the notorious Gracie family of Brazil and is the third generation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters from that family. In 1993 his uncle Rorion Gracie joined forces with Art Davie and Robert Meyrowitz to create the perfect proving ground to display the brilliance of his families fighting art Ultimate Fighting Championship. The sport is now considered one of the fastest growing in America.
The Film
The film was shot, edited, produced, and directed by Gethin Aldous. He followed Renzo over a 7 year period and another student of Renzo's Alex Shum, filmed Renzo for 4 years before that. It premiered in the US at the US Sports Film Festival on October 25th 2008. The DVD was then released with little or no marketing through it's own website and Amazon.com on November 14 2008. There are 2 on-line reviews written about the film at present, one described it as "an instant classic" and the other "a masterpiece in the world of documentaries". So although it's release was limited in scope, it was very well received. The film-makers chose to shun a normal distribution route and decided to self distribute desiring that the money for all the "blood, sweat, and tears" put into the film went straight to it's makers. It was self financed by the film-makers on a shoestring budget.

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