You may not realize how much you want to know about sumo until you go behind the scenes by experiencing Erik Shirai's immersive Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing. The documentary, which world-premiered at Venice and is now screening at the 70th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), starting on Oct. 13, takes audiences inside the notoriously private world of sumo, from the grueling training and the rituals to the pain and sacrifice.

The cinematic film follows a number of wrestlers in different stages of their careers, including a yokozuna, a title denoting the highest rank in professional sumo, over the course of a year. They are Terunofuji Haruo, Hiradoumi Yuki, Yonezawaryu Daiki and Kosei Motomura. One key takeaway is the importance of fighting spirit. Or as a synopsis puts it:  True strength is measured not in flesh, but in the refining of the spirit. 

The doc, for which Shirai and Hiroshi Harahandled cinematography, with Frederick Shanahan as editor, mixes intimate vérité with poetic observation to reveal more about a sport that often seems particularly foreign to those outside of Japan. Presented by ESPN Film, the movie is a Rise Films production, in association with Real Lava and Generation11.

Japanese-American filmmaker Shirai previously took a cinematic deep dive into another Japanese institution in The Birth of Sake. Ahead of the London debut of Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, he talked to THR about why he wanted to take a closer look at sumo and its spiritual dimension, how he got access and what audiences can take away from the doc.

Before you read on, THR can now exclusively premiere a new clip from Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, in which the yokozuna shares just how much his life expectancy is reduced by his decision to dedicate his life and focus to sumo wrestling. He is making big sacrifices to  live boldly. 

For filmmaker Shirai, sumo was always in the background before he decided to explore it on a deeper level.  I would always hear or see it on TV when we'd be making dinner or waiting for dinner,  he recalls.  But it wasn't really until I became an adult that I became 
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