Campus Connection

[caption id="attachment_28136" align="alignright" width="275"] Film Director Christopher Rufo will lead discussion following the showing of “Age of Champions,” an award-winning documentary on senior athletes, on campus  Saturday, Nov. 16.[/caption]

Kinesis dance troupe to perform

An award-winning documentary detailing the inspiring story of senior athletes will be shown at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The showing will be followed by a question–and-answer session with the film’s director, Christopher Rufo, and include a performance by a campus dance troupe. “Age of Champions” is the award-winning PBS documentary that follows five competitors who sprint, leap and swim for gold at the National Senior Olympics. The competitors include a 100-year-old tennis champion, 86-year-old pole vaulter, and rough-and-tumble basketball grandmothers as they triumph over the limitations of age. A performance by Kinesis, the university modern dance troupe, will open the program at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, in 113 Mitchell Hall, the main gymnasium floor. After the movie is shown, Rufo will lead discussion. Admission is free. “Age of Champions” made its world premiere at the 2011 Silverdocs Film Festival and was heralded by the Washington Post at “infectiously inspiring.” Athletes in the film have received media attention from major network news and national talk shows. Rufo has been a documentary filmmaker since 2006 and has produced three PBS films — “Roughing It: Mongolia,” about the culture of Mongolia, “Diamond in the Dunes,” about a baseball team in far Western China, and most recently “Age of Champions.” Rufo began production on “Age of Champions” in 2009 and has been engrossed in competitive sports for older adults since. He has been invited to participate in numerous expert panels with aging policy and advocacy experts. Rufo grew up in Sacramento, Calif., and attended Georgetown University. He is a dual Italian-American citizen and speaks Italian, Spanish and Chinese. The program is part of the centennial celebration series honoring 100 years of premier physical and fitness education in the UW-L Exercise and Sport Science Department.

If you go— What: “Age of Champions” documentary and Kinesis dance performance Who:   Film Director Christopher Rufo When: at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16 Where: Main gymnasium, UW-L Mitchell Hall Admission: Free