Achieving our goals that we hold so dearly requires a long road with complicated obstacles and opponents that we come into contact with. These hurdles shape us and guide our decisions and actions in the long term. Sabatino Ciatti Jr.’s Wrestle-Off acknowledges these facts and creates a powerful and poignant representation of them through its main character, Alex.
Wrestle-Off focuses on Alex (who is masterfully played by Jillian Rezen), a high school girl, as she begins her journey towards joining the all-male varsity wrestling team. While working towards this goal, she and her mother are also grieving the loss of her father, another wrestler. In order to achieve her dreams, Alex must face and deal with backlash from her opponents, her equally determined and antagonistic male teammates, while also processing her father’s passing. Despite her determination and strength, these struggles place a lot of stress on the young girl. Ciatti Jr. beautifully portrays Alex’s thoughts and feelings regarding these obstacles on her journey and utilizes filmmaking techniques to immerse the viewer into her mind in the moment.
Wrestle-Off stuns in its usage of lighting to tell its story. More dramatic and hard lighting is utilized within Alex’s wrestling sequences. In many of these, mainly Alex and/or her opponent are illuminated, offering audiences not only a focus point but the idea that these two are her only focus at the moment. Wrestling offers Alex not only an escape from the world but a connective device to her father. To that end, Alex feels differently while wrestling than anywhere else, as shown by the yellow light on her versus the blue light on the rest of the world. For Alex, wrestling offers the hope of maintaining the connection with her dad, as the rest of the world is difficult to live in.
In addition to unique lighting usage, Ciatti Jr. also uses specific staging and costuming decisions to put viewers in the characters' minds. Within the wrestling sequences, the only characters able to be fully seen within the shots are her and her opponent. Audiences are placed in the scene as Alex views it, a world where it’s just her and her opponent. To Alex, it is more than a sport, it is incredibly serious and important to her.
Additionally, Wrestle-Off has precise costuming decisions for its characters that express their thoughts and feelings. Both Alex and her mom wear mostly black pieces, a reference to their feelings regarding the passing of Alex’s father. Alex also wears her father’s jacket, a representation of her grief and desire to maintain a connection to him. Alex struggles throughout the film as she is repeatedly reminded of the separation from her and her male teammates. This is also represented within the film by Alex wearing a sweatshirt uniform for the team while all of her male teammates wear a t-shirt at practices. She feels disconnected from her teammates, and this causes more stress for Alex, who is already worried about gaining a spot on the varsity team. Ciatti Jr. utilizes these visual cues and filmmaking techniques to place audiences in Alex’s mind and feel what she feels.
Sabatino Ciatti Jr’s Wrestle-Off offers the compelling story of a young girl striving for her goal amongst difficult circumstances. Alex’s story of desire and determination, alongside Ciatti Jr’s filmmaking technique, provides audiences with a unique, thought-provoking narrative that is sure to linger.
Wrestle-Off will be screening along with the documentary film The Sandy Mack Experience on Saturday, May 31, 2025 – Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5PM in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ. There will be a Q+A session with both directors after the in-person screening. Get more info here.
The 30th annual New Jersey International Film Festival will be taking place between May 30-June 13, 2025. The Festival will be a hybrid one as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person when both are offered. Plus, we are very proud to announce that acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Kovacs will be doing an audio-visual concert on Friday, June 13 at 7PM! The in-person screenings and the Mike Kovacs concert will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ beginning at 5PM or 7PM on their show date. General Admission Ticket=$15 Per Program; Festival All Access Pass=$120; In-Person Only Student Ticket=$10 Per Program.
For more info go here: https://2025newjerseyinternationalfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome
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