About

THE FILM

Jens Pulver grew up in an environment that few could imagine, and that would cripple most spirits. At the age of seven, Jens had a shotgun shoved into his mouth by his abusive father, who had lined up the children and threatened to kill them all, starting with Jens. By the age of ten, Jens was fist-fighting the man on a regular basis, and losing daily.

From this brutal beginning, Jens Pulver spent a lifetime fighting to overcome the poverty of his circumstance, corralling the physical and spiritual demons of his childhood, and eventually unleashing them into the world of Mixed Martial Arts, where he rose to epic proportions.

In 2001, Jens Pulver became the first Lightweight World Champion under the now multi-billion dollar fight industry that is the UFC. Jens Pulver’s image is branded into video games, t-shirts, athletic gear, and the minds of millions of Mixed Martial Arts fans around the world.

Revered as a legend, yet constantly fielding demands to retire after four straight losses in the ring, Jens Pulver accepted a ‘do or die’ battle in the form of a World Extreme Cagefighting match on March 6, 2010. Jens Pulver | DRIVEN is an intimate feature documentary that follows his journey, and presents an in-depth look at the complexities of this three-time world champion as he trains for what could be the final comeback fight of his career.

Ultimately, Jens Pulver | DRIVEN is a film about the universal human struggle to transcend personal loss in the pursuit of greatness.

It is a story, like many of our personal stories right now, about the quest to provide a more solid future for self and family than our own meager inheritances would have allowed.

All of us share this fight, to some degree, but not all of us, like Jens Pulver, have it played out in front of millions on pay-per-view.

JENS PULVER

There is nothing pretend about Jens Pulver. He is unvarnished, authentic, individualistic, raw, inspiring, maverick, emotional, non-conforming, unpredictable, at times a walking contradiction and yet above all, he is real. At 34, he has seen and experienced more than most will throughout a lifetime. From a very young age, Jens was forced to endure challenges and experiences that would cripple most spirits. Yet even through intolerable verbal and physical abuse, Jens had the incomparable love of his mother and a steadfastness about him that would carry him through lifes greatest obstacles. He learned there would be no free lunches or easy roads. If there were to be any successes to celebrate, it would be done through hard work, effort and suffering. From a brutal beginning to an Epic rise, Jens would be gifted with amazing mentors and trustworthy coaches. Monte Cox and Pat Miletich would sculpt this masterpiece, understanding that sweat would replace entitlements and pity would not exist.

His Story is one they write books about. In fact, that’s already been done. And whatever the future has in store for Jens Pulver, you can be sure he is equipped for the battle. Whether the next encounter involves a physical opponent or something far more insidious like corruption, betrayal or cancer, let it be known, you have picked the wrong guy. If you knowingly choose to challenge this man, pack a lunch, as you have been placed on full alert. You have absolutely no idea what you’re up against.

THE FILMMAKERS

GREGORY BAYNE (Producer, Director, DP and Editor)

Gregory Bayne is a filmmaker living and working in Boise, Idaho. Recognized as an important voice in the emerging wave of filmmakers who are building their careers outside the industry strongholds of Los Angeles and New York Bayne’s work as a producer, director, editor, and cinematographer has appeared in several short, feature length and documentary films including Trudell, which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, the ESPN produced Out of the Blue: A Story about Life and Football at Boise State, about the 2007 Boise State Fiesta Bowl Champions, and Purple State of Mind, a 2008 audience award winner at the Tallahassee Film Festival. His work has shown theatrically, at film festivals worldwide (including the Sundance, Seattle, Munich and SXSW Film Festivals), and broadcast nationally on PBS, ESPN and the Sundance Channel.

Bayne’s feature directorial debut, Person of Interest, hailed as “this generation’s Taxi Driver” released in 2010 and was downloaded over 40,000 times in its first month of availability. In 2011-12, the film will appear on Cable VOD Networks across North America.

Bayne has been a guest speaker discussing the changing landscape of film and media at Columbia University, the Los Angeles Film Festival and the London Film School, and written articles for Filmmaker Magazine and the film/technology website WorkbookProject.com. He has been featured in FilmThreat, Filmmaker, MicroCinema and WIRED Magazines.

Currently, Bayne is releasing his latest film, JENS PULVER | DRIVEN, an intimate feature documentary about legendary mixed martial arts champion, Jens Pulver, who rose from a childhood laced with violence and substance abuse, to become one of the most loved and respected MMA fighters of all time. The film, which has been hailed as “Beautiful,” “Emotional,” and “Raw and Powerful,” is currently engaged in an international screening tour and is being released by Warner Bros. VIDEO ON DEMAND beginning in July of this year.

Next up for Bayne is the documentary feature BLOODSWORTH, about Kirk Noble Bloodsworth who was wrongfully convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and became the first person in the United States to be exonerated by DNA evidence.

J. REUBEN APPELMAN (Co-Producer, Writer)

J. Reuben Appelman is a multi-genre writer and film producer whose projects include PLAYGROUND, Executive Produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh, CHA-CHA-CHA, which he wrote in collaboration with Oscar-nominated director Michael Hoffman, the cult conspiracy thriller, PERSON OF INTEREST, a children’s adventure drama, THE FIVE (starring Dan Lauria and Madisen Beaty of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and the documentary films JENS PULVER | DRIVEN (Warner Bros.) and BLOODSWORTH, about the first American death row inmate to be exonerated by DNA evidence.

Appelman’s poetry collection, MAKE LONELINESS, was an Editor’s Choice favorite in the international arts quarterly, BOMB magazine, and his work has been featured by NPR literary critic Andrei Codrescu and on American Public Media’s “The Story” with Dick Gordon.

Appelman is a four-time grant recipient from the Idaho Commission on the Arts, most recently having been awarded a prestigious State of Idaho Writing Fellowship in Literature for his investigative work on the serial abduction-murders of multiple children outside Detroit, Michigan in the 1970s. He received his MFA from Boise State University, where he taught creative writing for nine years.