Documentary-maker David Farrier discovers it's no laughing matter when he sets out to make a film about the offer of cash and an all-expenses trips to Los Angeles for young athletes to be filmed competing in the sport of Competitive Endurance Tickling. He's threatened with legal action while participants are fearful of talking, all terrified of a wealthy promoter of the sport who wants to control the fetish...and will resort to blackmail and bullying to protect it
New Zealand TV journalist David Farrier's light-hearted report on an online curiosity dubbed "Competitive Endurance Tickling" takes him on an unexpectedly sinister pathway, which he has brilliantly captured in this feature documentary. The internet footage shows athletic young men tickling a giggling compadre who is shackled to a bed. It's funny at first, but although everyone is clothed there's a definite a fetishistic aspect to this. Intrigued, Farrier wants to know more, but the site producers swiftly bombard him with legal threats and shocking homophobic invective. Thus begins a journey into the murky environs of the internet and the toxic individuals who live there, moving inexorably from laughably odd to deeply unsettling. With startling moments at every turn, this is a genuine jaw-dropper, a classic piece of investigative film-making as Farrier and co-director Dylan Reeve display tenacity and fortitude in penetrating a web of lies, manipulation and tickling. You just could not make this up.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | David Farrier |
| Director | Dylan Reeve |
