Feature trailer for T-Rex which will be screening at the Hot Docs Film Festival.
Just 17 years old, Claressa “T-Rex” Shields is a boxing phenomenon. With an unbeaten record, she trains hard on the equally hard streets of Flint, Michigan. Whether to escape her family’s crazy daily dramas or the dim prospects of life in a dead-end town, she is banking on one plan: the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Her coach—an obvious father-figure—gives her everything she needs to make it happen, from a second home to intensely focused training. Now she just has to win. But will even this potentially historic moment of fame be enough to change what the future often holds for a poor, African American girl in a recession-state? Filmmakers Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper combine a slick visual style with unexpectedly candid observations of a vulnerable young woman, crafting a smart critique of the truly unequal opportunities of sports fame in America.