Making its debut in the 2011 Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, Klitschko – Sebastian Dehnhardt’s documentary about the boxing brothers from Ukraine, Vitali and Wladimir – was nothing less than a knockout. In the world of the WBA, the two brothers, who have both been world champion heavyweights, are quite unique: they hold PhDs, and they refuse to fight one another.

Tribeca’s Vice President of Programming David Kwok wrote in this year’s Film Guide:

"Director Sebastian Dehnhardt's comprehensive portrait of the brothers is an insightful and personal look at the lives of two boys from the Ukraine who would become international sports stars.



Candid interviews with the duo (along with their mother and father) shed light on their childhood spent on Soviet military bases during the Cold War, their strictly regimented life, how they got into boxing, and how Chernobyl affected them. The brothers' candidness forms the heart of the film. As the story moves into their careers from their early fights, the Olympics, and their encounters with the likes of Don King and Mike Tyson, a clearer picture emerges of their similarities and differences in and out of the ring. With a plethora of archival material and interviews with boxing luminaries, Klitschko is a stylish, illustrative look at two brothers who are more than just champions in the boxing ring."

As Klitschko gets into the US theatrical ring (sorry!), we asked the German director to give us some insight into his film.

Sebastian Dehnhardt

In the heavyweight boxing scene, the Klitschkos are our Kennedys. An objectionable comparison, perhaps, but at least – to some extent – that’s the way it feels. We Germans have adopted the two Klitschko brothers from Ukraine as our own and have locked them away in our hearts. As many as 60,000 people will flock to soccer stadiums to see them, millions more will sit at the edge of their seats in front of their TV screens when “our boys“ enter the ring, driven to give the rest of the boxing elite a thrashing.

Making a film about the phenomenon "Klitschko" means documenting them in a brilliant, picture-packed presentation. But I wanted much more. I wanted to get behind the scenes, to be taken by the hand and climb into the catacombs of this formidable sport, in order to gain a grasp of the human psyche that is so prevalent in the boxing scene. The Klitschkos granted me their permission, allowing me to gather an exclusive insight into a cosmos that has so impressed me.



That’s what this film is all about. It’s about chivalry, which, in our modern world, only reminds us of times long past. It’s about values like allegiance, discipline, and the power of purpose. It deals with fortitude, culture and intelligence, and with the killer instinct of exceptional athletes. But most of all, it’s about the strength only a cohesive family can provide. Moreover, it’s about the unconditional brotherly love that gives these two extraordinary human beings the vigor that makes them the envy of the boxing world. I was privileged – I was allowed to capture this love with the camera.

—Sebastian Dehnhardt, born in Namibia in 1968, is a German director and screenwriter. He co-founded the production company BROADVIEW, and has received the German Television Award (2004), an International Emmy Award (2005), and a Banff Television Rockie Award (2010). Klitschko is his debut feature documentary.

Klitschko opens Friday, October 21, at Cinema Village and AMC Empire 25 in New York City. Find tickets.

Check in to Klitschko on GetGlue.

Watch the trailer: