Looks like Mary Kom is moving on and moving up.

As reported in the Times of India, she is looking for a new coach. Her top pick is Irishman Peter Taylor, who coaches his world champion daughter, the unbelievable Katie Taylor (whom we interviewed in Delhi in 2006).

Mary has had discussions with Taylor and wants to work with him to improve her game for the London 2012 Olympics.

She is also one of 15 athletes hand-picked for the Olympic Gold Quest, a non-profit organization which supports Indian athletes with the potential to win big in London. Fellow boxer Usha is also on the roster.

The OGQ press release quoted Mary as saying, “I know that I can now concentrate fully on my training and preparations for the Olympics without have to worry about money, medical support, nutrition and proper facilities.”

Having spent 10 weeks with the team at boxing camps, we can vouch for the fact that conditions are very difficult for the team (intermittent electricity and running water, unbalanced meals, and cramped conditions).

Mary is no stranger to controversy. In October, she spoke out about substandard accommodations for the team at the Indian national championships.

“It is really upsetting,” she said at the time. “I am really shocked at the treatment particularly when I was recently been honoured with country’s highest sports award, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna.”

It’s hard to say what this will mean for dynamics the Indian national team, who could be losing their star boxer.

Mary also has her sights set on the Commonwealth Games in Delhi which run Oct. 3 to 14.

Today is the one-week anniversary of our foray into the world of Facebook!

After years of gentle prodding, Ameesha finally convinced me to accept social networking. Now we’re going full steam ahead.

Become a fan of our page. You’ll get exclusive back-stage access, freebies, friends in high places, etc.

See you on the other side.

Above photo by Andy Spira.

With less than two years until the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the race is on for India’s women boxers to prove they should be selected to represent their country, and let me tell you the competition is pretty fierce in their own backyard.

Our film focuses on the Senior Women Boxers on India’s National team, some of them have been training since 2000, and craving the possibility of an Olympic dream for a long time. But there is a new explosion of younger boxes toughening up the competition.

Four-time world champion Mary Kom will train like never before to represent her weight category in the Olympics (48-51kg). Her recent defeat against younger boxer Pinky Jangra at the last national competition is a sign that the talent and skill among the younger generation is getting stronger by the day.

Laxmi Negi’s recent article in The Times of India, highlights these new kids on the block, such as 18 year old Krishna Thapa, from Maharashtra, who was awarded the best boxer at nationals.

17-year-old Sagar Tokas, new on the scene, has been compared to championship boxer Sarita Devi because of her similar build and graceful boxing style. Tokas has been impressing the coaches and feels confident she can beat the more senior women in her weight category given another year of training.

Either way, this increase in competition will only force them to step up their game, making them tough contenders at the next Olympics.

I think its awesome that more and more girls are getting into the sport, it’s a good sign that it’s getting easier for women to pursue whatever they want in India, and that is definitely something to cheer about.

It was December 2006 when Anna and I celebrated Advent Christmas with some of the kindest folk we ever met. We were staying at a hostel run by the Zimiks, a Manipuri family, who after just a few days of knowing us, invited us to the Christmas service at their church and their annual Advent Christmas Party.

The party was a jolly good time and they went out of their way to welcome us.

An incredibly unflattering photo of Anna and I as we partake in one of the games at the Christmas party that involved eating a very large slice of cake in one bite.

It was during this experience that we came to understand the extraordinary kindness found in Manipuri people.

The Zimiks were tremendously helpful in assisting us to get the permission required to visit Manipur. Foreigners need a special permit and the process can take months. Thanks to them we got there and had the chance to experience the Christmas spirit all over again in Imphal, Manipur, where it is alive and kicking.

I remember one night during a power outage, carolers passed below our guesthouse. Their voices were beautiful and because of the power outage you could barely make them out in the dark and they were the only sound you could hear.

It was one of those magical moments you could never explain.

Luckily we don’t have to because Anna grabbed the camera likety-split and caught the scene right before they vanished into the darkness.

Click here to view the embedded video.

On Dec. 18, 2008, Ameesha and I were riding along the countryside in Manipur, Mary and Sarita’s home state, listening to a Christmas album by none other than Anne Murray. Anne Murray in Manipur? I don’t know how she got there, but our cab driver loved it. We sang along. We had just spent the day with Mary Kom, her family, and friends, as they were getting ready for Christmas. Manipur is a predominantly Christian state. (Born Mangte Chungneijang, Mary’s teammates were so impressed by her devotion to her faith that they started calling her Mary and the name stuck).

You can see from the map below that the Burmese border is around an hour’s drive – about the distance of Plattsburgh. Everyone kept telling us that there was such good shopping there. But, we’d probably never get in. Next time.

We’ll be taking some time off with our families over the next two weeks, but wishing you all a safe and happy holiday. If you can’t get enough of Anne Murray, she has seven (7!) Christmas albums to choose from.

It’s hard to believe that one year ago, the 5th World Women’s Boxing Competition was wrapping up in Ningbo, China (three hours from Shanghai, pictured above). Ameesha and I were there with the Indian team. Here’s a quick recap of what’s been going on since.

We went back to India. This time, we stayed with world bronze medalist Chhoto Loura in her apartment in Ambala, Haryana. Afterwards, we made our way back to the north-east state of Manipur to see four-time world champion Mary Kom. (We actually had a tough time getting permission to go there. It’s a restricted area due to terrorist activities in the region. The same thing happened in 2006 when we last visited Mary.) We also caught up with Sarita Devi (2006 world champion) and her family.

We came home. And started the long, long process of viewing, transcribing, and logging our 142 hours of footage. Why, oh why did we shoot so much? We were finished by July, thankfully.

In August: a breakthrough. Women’s boxing became an Olympic sport. The media picked up on the story and our girls began popping up all over the interweb. We also started getting more requests for information about our own film. Keep an eye out for a story on Art Threat in the next few weeks.

And now, editing. It’s a long process, but we hope to have the film completed within the year.

Flashback to 2008: Here are some more photos that we dug up.

Our dear Emily (second from right), who came to India to help us with still photography and sound, hanging out at the beach with boxers (from left) Kavita, Jyoti, Sushma and Chhoto.

Head Coach Mr. Anoop Kumar (in white) sits with Mr. Rao during one of the frequent sparring sessions during the national training camp. Because there are nearly 40 boxers at the camp, they always have someone in their weight category to practice with, which is more than can be said for most other countries in the world. Two-time Irish world champion Katie Taylor, for example, had to train with men. And when it became clear she was a strong fighter, none of the women wanted to face her in competition. The Indian team doesn’t have that problem.

Recovering from fever. We each took turns getting sick. Good old Ameesha took excellent care of Emily and I and was always willing to walk to the store (even when it was 45 degrees) to get us ice-cold water, juice, rice, hard-boiled eggs, Cadbury chocolate, Sprite – you name it.

India has a number of boxing centres. The state of Haryana is one of them. Many of the strongest fighters are from there.

In the summer of 2008, we lived and breathed boxing. We spent an average of six hours a day watching their training sessions. After a few days, we developed our own rhythm and split up the tasks between the three of us. Ameesha and Emily took turns taking photos and recording sound (on a Zoom H2 Handy Recorder, which is really quite handy), while I filmed and recorded sound independently.

Flash forward to China in November/December 2008. Ameesha and I were rather amused by these stern instructions at the entrance of a park in Shanghai. Some of our favourites: “Don’t strip to the waist and lie at discretion. Don’t climb rockeries. Don’t dally with, scare, and capture birds, crickets, fishes and shrimps (except for operation items). Don’t gather a crowd to make a speech. Don’t relieve yourself everywhere.”

No, we’re not Tweeting or Facebooking, but we’ve got ourselves a brand spanking new website. It’s still in the development stages and we’re working out some bugs, but you can see the initial version online at withthisringfilm.com. Baby steps.

Special thanks to Mathieu Price for his most excellent technical assistance.

Last week I presented our film to a group of Rotarians in Kelowna, B.C. at 7:30 in the morning at their Yacht Club overlooking a misty Okanagan Lake, home of the infamous lake monster Ogopogo.

I was in Kelowna, B.C. visiting my parents. My step father, Paul Cleland, who is an active member of his Rotary arranged to have me as a guest speaker for their weekly meeting.

The legendary Ogopogo didn’t make an appearance but there was a great turn out from some of Kelowna’s finest citizens who were also members of the Rotary Club of Kelowna Ogopogo.

It was an honour to present to people completely outside of the film world. They were a diverse cross section of teachers, bankers, social workers, salespeople - you name it! It’s safe to say they will have a different perspective than filmmakers, not to mention there are way more of them than us, which is why it’s so valuable to get their reaction.

Across the board everyone was shocked that India had women boxers and even more surprised they were some of the best in the world. They were intrigued by the lives of these women who chance everything to pursue the sport, and much to my delight were quite anxious to see the film.

They were such a warm and welcoming audience and their feedback was very encouraging.

Thank you to all the lovely Rotarians in Kelowna!

There she is, with the crowd eating out of her hand, talking about our film at the Rotary Club in BC. I’m expecting a minute-by-minute account of what happened any day now.

Go Joshi!

Special thanks to Paul for these images. Extra special thanks to Ameesha for not killing me for posting this online.

Oct. 28, 2009 @ Rotary Club of Kelowna Ogopogo
Kelowna Yacht Club
1414 Water St.
Kelowna, B.C. V1Y 1J1

I’m so darn proud. More details.