Experiencing Interruptions?

Rubin Hurricane Carter: Forever a Fighter

We take a last road trip with Rubin— back to rural Georgia where he once picked cotton as a child. We’re with him and partner John Artis.

They’re both lifers— John was the kid who wrongly went to prison with Rubin for killing three whites in a New jersey bar.

On the road, Rubin rediscovers the forces that forged him: segregation, discrimination, and racial hatred. He’s buoyant, charismatic, determined, undeterred-- but it’s an unforgettable journey back to Ku Klux Klan country.

His story is his resurrection song— from black American destroyer in the ring who persevered—through talent and will against all odds—to become a civil rights icon known around the world.

Back in the 60s, Rubin was a contender for the middleweight crown.

Our story is not only how he survived prison— but how he fought to make the wrongly convicted a mainstream issue— and battled to outlaw the death penalty.

And it’s the story of John, the athletic kid who lost his life dream— to play for the New York Jets.

But it’s also about their remarkable resilience over decades and their ultimate victory— the saga of two lifers— one famous, one not— who beat the odds, won freedom and have a message for all of us:
Live, laugh and love!

**

  • Peter Thurling
    Director
    Documentaries: This Can Happen to You Documentary Series: Here Come the Seventies,Towards the Year 2000,Target the Impossible, Hollywood Babylon Special: Floating Over Canada Dramas: Breakdown (NFB), Gopher Broke (NFB), The Campbells
  • Peter Thurling
    Writer
    Documentaries: This Can Happen to You Documentary Series: Here Come the Seventies,Towards the Year 2000,Target the Impossible, Hollywood Babylon Special: Floating Over Canada Dramas: Breakdown (NFB), Gopher Broke (NFB), The Campbells
  • Mevlut Akkaya
    Producer
    Embers, When Comedy Went to School, Art = (Love)², The Doorman,
  • Joan Schafer
    Producer
    This Can Happen to You, Growing Up in America, Floating Over Canada
  • Floyd Kane
    Producer
    CBC Series: Diggstown
  • Danny Glover
    Producer
    The Color Purple, Witness, Predator 2, Lethal Weapon
  • Rubin Hurricane Carter
    Key Cast
    "Himself"
    Hurricane, This Can Happen to You
  • John Artis
    Key Cast
  • H Lee Sarokin
    Key Cast
    "The Judge"
  • Barry Scheck
    Key Cast
    "Innocence Project New York Co-Founder"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature, Television
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    June 30, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    495,125 CAD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Harlem International Film Festival
    NYC
    United States
    September 18, 2025
    world
    official selection
Distribution Information
  • Level Film (Canada only)
    Distributor
    Country: Canada
    Rights: Theatrical
Director Biography - Peter Thurling

Peter Thurling is an award-winning writer, director and producer of trending documentaries from the 1970s to today’s release of his feature Rubin Hurricane Carter: Forever A Fighter.

His work spans the globe from Primal Scream’s Arthur Janov in Los Angeles “To Live to 140" an outpost in the Andes of Ecuador, to Stinking Creek poverty in deep Appalachia, and a musical odyssey by float plane over Canada.

Through more than 70 films he’s focused on stories that explore the human spirit in all its fantastic diversity. His partner through it all has been legendary Toronto TV producer Joan Schafer.

Their feature on Rubin Carter follows the black boxer’s life fight to make the wrongly convicted a mainstream issue.

We go with Rubin on a final road trip back to his spiritual home in rural Georgia where Rubin picked cotton as a child.

And we go beyond his death to consider his influence on how we live and die in our racial wars— still raging today. **

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Peter Thurling - Rubin Hurricane Carter - Forever a Fighter

We didn’t really meet until 2007—long after he was a civil rights icon and his life story a Hollywood movie.

We're drifting off a Newfoundland cove in a fishing skiff Rubin's complaining:
"I’m cold—Want to go in!”
Now he's screaming. “Don’t fuck with the Hurricane!”
We go in and—somehow we bond.

Four years later, Rubin calls. He's stuck in a Toronto rehab, wants help. He's just been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Back in the 60s, when boxing was big on TV— he was the black American destroyer who fought in Madison Square Garden and liked to put his rivals away in the first round. This time the doctors give him just 90 days to live.

We set up home care and Rubin fights to get back on his feet. His remarkable longtime partner, John Artis, drives in from Virginia to be by his side. John was the kid wrongly convicted in 1966 with Rubin for killing three whites in a Paterson, New Jersey bar.

Rubin famously spends 20 years in prison; John, 15 years. The kid was only 19 at the time; Rubin was 29, a top ranked boxer and contender for the middleweight crown. His life is celebrated by Denzel Washington, and Bob Dylan.

John and Rubin are convicted twice—aren’t freed until 1985 when maverick Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin rules their imprisonment was based on “racism, not realism.” Rubin emerges from prison not bitter but driven. He escapes to Toronto, cofounds an advocacy group (AIDWYC) to free others wrongly convicted.

Over the next decade, the Hurricane famously helps win a series of cases. It becomes his life work to make the wrongly convicted a mainstream issue and to outlaw the death penalty.

In 2011, after his cancer diagnosis, Rubin wants to make a road trip back to rural Georgia
where he once picked cotton as a child. We join him and John. It becomes a last road trip and an unforgettable dip into Ku Klux Klan country.

His personal courage, his searing passion, his enduring spirit—his last rounds have never been seen. This is the story we knew we had to get. For us, this film has been a labor of love, persistence and deep respect. It takes us a decade with uncertain funding and Rubin’s condition.

What unfolds is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness greatness—not the kind that wins belts or headlines—but the quiet, human kind that changes lives and inspires us to act.

Forever A Fighter is our tribute to Rubin’s legacy, his incredible fight for justice, and the power of belief.

It's also our way of honoring John Artis, whose quiet heroism helped carry Rubin through his final rounds.

Right to the last, Rubin was fighting for his truth. So are we.

Peter Thurling
Writer/ Director, Rubin Hurricane Carter: Forever a Fighter
Eye of The Hurricane Productions