Tickled

A documentary from New Zealand. A journalist finds a strange video online. Young men are tied down and tickled, and it is presented as a sport; it is called endurance competition. The journalist thinks of it as a light story and writes to the company behind it. The reply is unexpected. The company refuses an interview, insults him personally and threatens legal action. That is where it grows. From there the documentary becomes an investigation. The team goes to America, finds the young men in the videos, and what they say is consistent: good money was offered, filming happened, the videos went online, and life was made difficult for anyone who wanted to stop. The trail leads to one person. It emerges that he has used false identities, has been running the same operation for many years, and has a large amount of money behind him. What the film is interested in is not tickling but power: how money silences people, and how the internet turns a recording into a lasting threat. The legal pressure continued after release; the team faced more than one lawsuit. David Farrier and Dylan Reeve directed; Farrier also narrates. Who it is for: anyone who likes investigative documentary and cases built on the internet. Who it is not for: anyone expecting something light because the subject sounds odd; the narrative is about exploitation and threat and the tone keeps getting heavier.