Knockout Scousers: True Stories

As part of the True Stories strand, showcasing the best of feature-length documentaries, Knockout Scousers: True Stories offers intimate access to three very different young athletes as they strive for a chance to make the GB Olympic boxing squad and qualify for the 2012 Games. Filmed over two years, the film charts the physical and psychological construction of modern day Olympians. This is the directorial debut of photographer Steve Read, who captures gritty urban images and stories of working class struggle in contrast to the fanfare and glamour of the first British Olympics in over sixty years.

Liverpool's tough areas of Huyton and Toxteth, famed for the riots, racial tensions of the past and youth issues of today, have many stories to tell, not only of struggle, tension and rivalries but also of hope. For some of the locals boxing is their blood and fighting is nothing new. Knockout Scousers has been following these fighters as they emerge from the shadows of the city's amateur boxing clubs to become contenders for the Olympic Games.

Natasha Jonas doesn't look like your average fighter, she's 28 and beautiful, but she's been fighting in one way or another all her life. 2012 is the first year female boxing has been included in the Olympic Games and for Natasha it's a chance to make history. The film follows Natasha from Liverpool to China, via Sheffield and Czech Republic, as she strives to live out her dream of qualifying for the London Games.

The film also follows Merseyside success story Tom Stalker, who at 27, has gone from stealing cars

for teenage kicks to becoming Team GB Captain. Already Tom has become a local hero and a positive role model with his ranking as World No.1 Amateur Light Welterweight, visiting schools and youth centres about Liverpool, showing his medals and inspiring others with his stories of international victories in India and Azerbaijan.

Having been crowned England's 2010 Amateur Champion, 19-year-old James 'Jazza' Dickens' path to the Olympic squad seems secure but he also has other things to consider. The film follows Jazza as he finds God, leaves the GB squad and joins the professional ranks, to become the fighter now hailed as a future British Champion.

With exclusive access, Knockout Scousers follows the fortunes of these ordinary Liverpudlians for 750 days as they strive to realise their Olympic dream, offering intimate insight into their lives and the battles they face both in and out of the ring. With candour and warmth, these boxers will show their unique fighting spirit in the build-up to the monumental challenge that awaits them and in the case of Natasha Jonas, provide a unique window into what it takes to make a little piece of history.