Toronto filmmakers make doc about Brawl on Bay St.

The Brawl on Bay Street is an bi-annual boxing match featuring high-powered financial executives that's now entering its 14th year. Designed as a sort of Freudian displacement for all the testosterone and combativeness that defines life on Bay St., the concept is pretty straightforward: executives with little to no boxing experience are given a few months to train before engaging in a slugfest in front of all their colleagues at Arcadian Court. While a novel concept, unless you know one of the fighters, it's tough to get too excited about a couple of traders bashing each other's brains out.

That changes with the release of a new mini-doc about the event. If you've ever watched HBO's 24/7 series (which is mostly focused on boxing, but also features hockey teams participating in the Winter Classic), you know that the lead up to a boxing match is remarkably compelling. Directed by Jon Pottins and Justin Brennon Smith, this short film introduces us to two would-be boxers who couldn't be more different, and as they open up on screen, life on Bay St. becomes a little less stereotypical and cliched. Have a watch.