The Ice King (2018)

The Ice King: Directed by James Erskine. With Freddie Fox, John Curry, Meg Streeter Lauck, Heinz Wirz. THE ICE KING is the searing documentary of a lost cultural icon, a story of art, sport, sexuality, and rebellion. Including incredible unseen footage of some of his mort remarkable performances and with access to Curry’s letters, archive interviews, and interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, this is a portrait of the man who turned ice-skating from a dated sport into an exalted art form. Watch any figure skating and it falls into two possible camps: before and after John Curry. From what was a macho, technical sport whose judges punished deviation blossomed – through John Curry’s stubborn beauty – ice-dancing. This was no Holiday on Ice, but a new artistic medium. After winning gold at the Winter Olympics for a rebelliously balletic routine, Curry saw the world’s stages sheeted with ice. Audiences and reviewers alike were enthralled by his genius. But Curry’s story is about more than skating. On the night of the final, Curry became the first openly gay Olympian at a time when homosexuality was barely legal. From bullying and prejudice, to relief in the gay underworld, to his untimely death from AIDS, Curry’s story dovetails with the experiences of a generation. Tortured by demons, Curry was forever on the run. Never owning a home, he lived on the favours of those who loved him. The only place he found true freedom was the ice. This is the story of a man whose body was a battleground. From love affairs, to violence in sex clubs, to its ‘unmanly’ elegance on the ice, every act was rebellion. John Curry was no activist, but an artist expressing his authentic self – yet in a world where his existence was taboo, his life was unavoidably political.

“John Curry, transformed the world of ice skating. Cultural differences not unlike today, but more welcomed, or at least legal than the turmoil times of the late 70u0026#39;s thru the mid 80u0026#39;s.( A president who was a bigot then as well as now.)nA lifetime documentary of a boy who was denied by a to stern father who denied his son ballet lessons, yet accepted the u0026quot;sportu0026quot; of skating on the ice. A world where John Curry used his natural born talent to break all barriers of a corrupt sport, ice skating to become an Olympic world champion, only to try u0026amp; be outed by a talentless media, sound familiar? Despite these obstacles, Philanthropists recognized truly groundbreaking talent was set on a course, where John would transform that sport into new, wondrous, expressive ballet u0026amp; dance moves which were stagnantly absent before.from Great Britianu0026#39;s top venue to the US u0026#39; Metroplitan, and beyond, Curryu0026#39;s catapulted our culture into the future. But for every shine of brilliance in him, there were demons.Demons of trying to find love in his orientation during a time when no one knew, and political correctedness prevented finding a cure into the world of AIDS. Being on top of a sport is a lonely place, John curryu0026#39;s world full explains his dispostion, and at the same time, displays for all time the importance his his work of transforming the world of ice skating for future generations with a dignified empathy of this special and unique gay man”