The 2005 World Judo Championships in Cairo, Egypt, was an incredible experience for Fighting Films, and not just because of the quality of judo.

We arrived four days before the competition began, so that we could be at the IJF Conference for the launch of our latest DVDs - The IJF Coaching Series. Mr Yasuhiro Yamashita, the IJF Education and Coaching Director and the man responsibile for funding the project, did an introductory speech, followed by ex-World champion Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki and then myself. We ended the presentation with a ten minute section from one of the DVDs - Coaching Judo to Juniors - which was greeted by an excited round of applause.

Our Fighting Films stand, which we’d set up outside the congress hall, was overrun, and within two hours the 120 DVDs we’d brought with us had all gone.

The following day we marked up our camera positions in the venue. Four weight categories a day over five mats was going to be difficult, but with two cameramen (Neil Rogers and FF editor Adam Bell) covering three central mats and myself running between two corner mats we could get all the material we needed.

Before each day’s judo our team of four looked through each category and flagged up the medal potentials - the current World and Olympic champions, the most exciting fighters and (after their success in Athens) the Japanese. It was the job of Oliver Roberts, FF website designer, to look through the contest lists and instruct the cameramen, via radio communication, which mats to be on. If, for example, we had three crucial fights happening on the central mats, I would raise my tripod legs and shoot over the advertisement banners to give us the third camera we needed.

We had little time to explore Cairo in the evenings. A day would start at 7am. After breakfast we made our way to the venue, set up cameras and equiptment, and analysed the categories. The judo began at 9.30am, breaking off for a couple of hours in the evening, where we’d review our log sheets, recharge radio and camera batteries, and grab something quick to eat. At around 8pm the medal ceremonies concluded and we began packing up. Dinner back at the hotel soon followed, finishing around 10pm. We’d then review our footage, recharge all batteries and label tapes for the next day, getting to sleep around 1am.

The fifth and final day was the five-person team events. Most of the judo happened on the three central mats, so the FF team were a lot more relaxed. The teams threw up some of the most exciting moments and judo of the whole competition. So exciting, in fact, that Fighting Films plan to bring out a separate DVD dedicated to this event alone. Third fight in the men’s first round brought together a rematch of the brilliant -66kgs final between Japan’s Masato Uchishiba and Brazil’s Joao Junior. Olympic champion Uchishiba had been smashed to pieces by Junior in their first fight, having to settle for a silver medal, and was clearly out for revenge in the team event.

Another intriguing rematch took place in the men’s final between the Koreans and Japanese, where Hiroshi Izumi and Hee Tae Hwang both had a point to prove. Three days earlier Hwang had been disqualified from the -90kgs category for throwing Izumi with a standing armlock. Hwang was determined to beat Izumi and not make the same mistake again, while Izumi had to win to keep the Japanese in the contest.

To find out what happened in these incredible fights, and all the other stories of the 2005 World Championships, you’ll have to wait for the DVDs, which we hope to have ready early next year.

In the meantime the ground-breaking, mulitple-language (English, French, Spanish, Japanese and Arabic) coaching DVDs are now available. Currently they’re only ready in PAL format, with NTSC being completed by the end of October. View the news page and online shop for further details of these DVDs. Our next production will be ready in time for Christmas, when Fighting Films launches Athens 2004, it’s first Olympic DVDs.

Feb '05: Behind The Camera - When are the Olympics going to be ready?
May '05: Behind The Camera - IJF Coaching Series Part 1
Aug '05: Behind The Camera - IJF Coaching Series Part 2
Apr '06: Behind The Camera - The Fighting Films GB World Cup
Aug '06: Behind The Camera - 2006 European Championships
Dec '06: Behind The Camera - 2006 World Team Championships
Oct '07: Behind The Camera - 2007 World Championships and the FF GB Judo World Cup
Oct '07: Behind The Camera - Autumn and Winter 2007