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Tickled ()


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Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn't stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.

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Cast

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...
Self
...
Self
David Starr ...
Self (as Dave Starr)
Kevin Clarke ...
Self
Adam ...
(2016)
T.J. Gretzner ...
Self - Former Tickle Competitor (as TJ)
Richard Ivey ...
Self - Tickle Fetishist
Marko Realmonte ...
Self
Anne James ...
Self - Radio Host: KSEN, K96 (archiveFootage) (voice)
Alden ...
Self - Former Tickle Video Performer
Hal Karp ...
Self - Journalist 1992-2007
Debbie Scoblionkov ...
Self - Journalist 1981-2006
Jordan Schillaci ...
Self
Lance Roberts ...
Self (voice)
David D'Amato ...
Self - aka Terri Tickle aka Terri DiSisto aka Jane O'Brien aka Jane J. O'Brien aka Debbie Kuhn
...
Self - Attorney Allegedly Hired by Jane O'Brien Media
Dorothy J. D'Amato ...
Self - David P. D'Amato's Stepmother (voice) (as Dorothy)

Directed by

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David Farrier
Dylan Reeve

Produced by

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Stephen Fry ... associate producer
Richard Ivey ... associate producer
Carthew Neal ... producer
Justin Pemberton ... executive producer

Music by

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Rodi Kirkcaldy
Florian Zwietnig

Cinematography by

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Dominic Fryer

Editing by

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Simon Coldrick

Editorial Department

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James Brookes ... dcp and digital deliverables
David McLaren ... colorist (as Dave McLaren)
Josh Reardon ... DIT
Dylan Reeve ... on-line and graphics

Production Management

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Polly Fryer ... production

Sound Department

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Alexis Feodoroff ... re-recording mixer
Nigel Foster ... sound designer
Amanda Heatley ... sound post producer
Michael Hedges ... re-recording mixer
Cameron Lenart ... sound recordist
Toby Lloyd ... post sound recordist
Adrian Medhurst ... post sound recordist
Gabriel Muller ... additional sound recordist
Dick Reade ... re-recording mixer
Nigel Scott ... sound manager
Shivnesh Sumer ... post sound recordist
Beth Tredray ... sound designer
Richard Wills ... additional tracklay

Camera and Electrical Department

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Bevan Crothers ... additional cinematography
Grant Findlay ... camera operator: news footage (uncredited)
Billy Paine ... additional cinematography
Greg Parker ... additional cinematography
Dylan Reeve ... additional cinematography
Yves Simard ... additional cinematography

Additional Crew

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Kiara Walker ... clearance legal assistant

Thanks

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Blake French ... special thanks
Gabriel Lunte ... kickstarter contributor
Rhian Sheehan ... thanks
Gwendoline Taylor ... thanks:voice-over artist

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

David Farrier, a New Zealand pop cultural reporter whose story subjects often verge into the bizarre, believes he's found his next story when he stumbles across an online video on the world of competitive endurance tickling, a sport where the participants, with hands and feet tied down, are tickled for as long as they can endure. Participants are flown to Los Angeles first class, paid $1,500, and put up for four nights in a luxury hotel. Suitable participants are deemed to be younger, muscular males. The event is held on a monthly basis. In contacting the organizers, US-based Jane O'Brien Media, via their popular Facebook page to arrange for an interview, David receives a return message from one of their representatives, Debbie J. Kuhn, declining the offer, the message a homophobic rant largely against David. In that message, Debbie asserts that the competition is wholly a heterosexual athletic activity, she who does not appreciate what will be David's assumed gay bent on the story as a homosexual himself (which David does not state he is or isn't in his request). David finds the message all the more odd as the activity as it appears in the videos has an undeniable gay vibe. What is even more odd is that Debbie on behalf of Jane O'Brien, continually emails David over the following weeks expounding on the themes in the original message. At this time, David's friend, Dylan Reeve, enters the fray, acting initially as a researcher for David, and then eventually as co-filmmaker for a documentary on the subject. However, the documentary eventually morphs from the sport of competitive endurance tickling into the mysterious world of Jane O'Brien and Debbie Kuhn, especially: as they seem to have unlimited resources both to hold the events and to conduct their online harassment they learn not only of David, but of former associates who now seem to want to distance themselves from the "sport" and Jane O'Brien Media; as Jane and Debbie initiate legal action and threaten even more legal action, and issue general threats time and time against David and Dylan not only for this unauthorized documentary but for their activities toward Jane O'Brien Media as a whole; and as no one seems to know who Debbie or Jane are, even the people that work for them, or what their end goal is, namely what will be done with the resulting videos of the competitions, which populate the Internet. The story takes a further twist when David and Dylan learn there truly is a tickling sexual fetish subculture, one within that community, Richard Ivey, who willingly talks to David and who remembers someone else online decades ago within the community with a similar M.O. to Debbie and Jane. Written by Huggo

Plot Keywords
Taglines It's not what you think See more »
Genres
Parents Guide View content advisory »
Certification

Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • Tickle King (World-wide, English title)
  • Щекотка (Russia)
  • Kittlad (Finland, Swedish title)
  • Połaskotany (Poland)
  • Tickled: Kutituspornon Jäljillä (Finland)
  • See more »
Runtime
  • 92 min
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Language
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Filming Locations

Did You Know?

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Trivia During a screening at the True/False Film Festival the film had to be stopped for nearly ten minutes while local police escorted two people from the cinema. The two were allegedly private investigators who had been spotted trying to record the film with a device hidden in a coffee cup. See more »
Movie Connections Featured in Top 20 Best Documentary Films of the Last Decade (2019). See more »
Soundtracks Stirring Them up as the Keeper of a Menagerie His Wild Beasts See more »
Quotes David Farrier: I started this journey curious about a bizarre sport called Competitive Endurance Tickling. But I now think this was never even about tickling... This is about power, control and harassment. It's about one person's twistedness, and how far that can go. One person, who has managed to shelter himself with money to keep his obsession going. But now, it's his life exposed. For once, it's him on camera.
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