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Official selection in the 2009 Rhode Island International Film Festival
Not Your Mama’s Roller Derby probes deep to answer questions that neophytes want to know about roller derby such as, “What drives women to skate?” and “Is roller derby a dangerous sport?” Yes, it’s not your mama’s roller derby — there are no alligator pits or staged fights, but it’s more than the old form of derby — it’s edgy and it’s totality misunderstood. Not Your Mama’s Roller Derby examines the inception of Providence’s Roller Derby League, one of the earlier leagues to be established under the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Sara Doom, the birth mother of PRD, and other early league members such as Jailbird Jenny, describe the skills besides skating that were needed to make the league grow. And we turn our lens close-up on current PRD members to reveal other “secrets” of roller derby such as the rigorous training that players endure to become part of this elite league of fast-skating women. We followed the league’s all-star team, the Riveters, to the 2008 East Coast Roller Derby Extravaganza held in Philadelphia to find out how the league’s all-star team matched up to other East Coast teams. Viewers become absorbed in derby drama as Dolly Rocket, the former Captain of the Riveters and now playing for Baltimore’s Charm City Roller Girls, competes with the Riveters in a killing match. The Riveters return home, and the audience learns important roller derby lessons about family and sisterhood.
—Alexia Kosmider, Producer