''Blood on the Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Rollergirls'' is a documentary film produced and directed by Lainy Bagwell and Lacey Leavitt. The film documents the formative years of the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

women's flat track roller derby league, the

Rat City Rollergirls Rat City Roller Derby is a women's flat-track roller derby league in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2004 as Rat City Rollergirls, LLC, the league has incorporated alternative cultural influences, and has inspired and mentored other leagues. Rat ...

Plot

With more than 30 leagues nationwide at the time forming the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

, ''Blood on the Flat Track'' focuses on the

of Seattle, who formed their league from scratch in April 2004. In the first season, the league started playing at a small rink in front of about 200 fans; they now sell out of stadiums monthly. This film follows the teams throughout its first two seasons and focuses on the women who comprise the league, their teams' struggle to win the championship bout and their relationships with each other.

Festival participation

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

- World Premiere – June 14, 2007 *

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. The Festival's ...

- September 2007 *

Ellensburg Film Festival Ellensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kittitas County, Washington, United States. It is located just east of the Cascade Range near the junction of Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. The population was 18,666 at the 2020 census. and was ...

- October 2007 *

Tallgrass Film Festival The Tallgrass Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Wichita, Kansas, specializing in independent films. It was founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver. Gruver was raised in Wichita. He studied filmmaking at Brigham Young University. After c ...

- October 2007 *

Detroit Docs Film Festival Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the ...

- October 2007 - ''Founders Award Winner'' * Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - October 2007 - ''Best Local Film – Jury Award Winner, Best Local Film – Audience Award Winner'' *

Olympia Film Festival The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

- November 2007 * Northwest Film and Video Festival - November 2007 * Mid-Valley Film and Video Festival - February 2008 * Aarhus Festival of Independent Art - European Premiere - March 12, 2008 * Memphis International Film Festival - March 2008 * Canadian Sports Film Festival - May 2008 – Opening Night Gala Film * Michigan Womyn's Music Festival - August 2008 *

Mardi Gras Film Festival The Mardi Gras Film Festival is an Australian LGBTQ+ film festival held in Sydney, New South Wales annually as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations. It is organised by Queer Screen Limited, a non-profit organization, and i ...

- Sydney, Australia - February 2009 * Brisbane Queer Film Festival - April 2009

DVD availability

Blood on the Flat Track was released on DVD in Canada on October 6, 2009, by Mongrel Media and was released in the United States by

Strand Releasing Strand Releasing is an American film production company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur-driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong Wee ...

on February 23, 2010.

External links

* * 2007 films 2007 documentary films American sports documentary films Documentary films about Seattle Roller derby films Documentary films about women's sports 2007 directorial debut films Women's sports in Washington (state) Roller derby in the United States Sports in Seattle Films shot in Seattle Films set in Seattle 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{sport-documentary-film-stub