Comment >>Film trailer11/6/09

“Bleacher Boys” is the story of five men – who shared a common boyhood dream of growing up and playing major league baseball, each of whose dream was dashed at an early age due to blindness, whose stories differ in detail, yet share that one common element. Their stories unfold in chapters like the innings of a baseball game. Each inning becomes a chapter from their lives as they relate the hardships of overcoming the painful reality of never seeing again and the struggle to create a new dream. All are masterful storytellers whose tales become easy for us to identify with and whose perseverance we admire. The line-up includes:

• Ed Lucas, now a reporter for the New York Yankees. Ed lost his sight after being inspired by Bobby Thompson’s famous home run “heard 'round the world” in 1959. He and his friends were so excited that they took to the streets to play a pickup game of baseball and a line drive hit him between the eyes rendering him blind. His dream was shattered, but he never lost his love for the game.
• Pat Cannon, who lost his sight more gradually as he, nonetheless, continued the struggle to keep his dream alive.
• Neal Freeling, who was born without sight but fell in love with baseball announcer Mel Allen’s voice as his words brought the game to life. These radio voices became Neil’s “friends” since the boys in his neighborhood shunned him. The game of baseball became his true pastime.
• Craig Lynch, who has never seen a baseball field in his life, but who now sits in the bleachers at Wrigley Field reporting on games for the Chicago Cubs he cannot see.
• Paul Parravano, known as the MIT King and honored for his remarkable contributions to this prestigious university. His love of baseball motivated him to achieve greatness.

Karen Hunter is the founder of Rose Mountain Productions and the producer/cinematographer for three award-winning documentaries. After completing a year of intensive class work, she graduated in 2005, with a professional certificate in digital filmmaking. Karen launched her new career as an independent filmmaker with her final student project, “The Poetry of Steeples: Change Ringing in Boston,” a documentary about the history of the first English style bells that hung in the tower of the Old North Church and were rung by Paul Revere. By the beginning of 2009, Karen completed her first three award-winning feature-length documentaries as a producer – “Play-by-play Men and The Art of the Perfect Call,” “Henry O!” and “Bleacher Boys.” Karen's documentaries have won several awards including the 29th Annual Breckenridge Festival of Film Best Latin Documentary, the Connecticut Film Festival award for Best Sports Documentary, the Beverly Hills Film Festival Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary, The Accolade Award of Excellence for Feature Documentary, and the New England Film and Video Festival award for Best Documentary Feature. Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Hunter co-owned and operated a successful restaurant for ten years in Westborough, Massachusetts. Karen is a graduate of Quinsigimond Community College with an Associates Degree in Science for applied arts/graphic arts and the University of Massachusetts-Lowell with a BA in graphic design.

The Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is a program of the Southern Arts Federation, a not-for-profit regional arts organization making a positive difference in the arts throughout the South since 1975.  Southern Arts Federation is supported by funding and programming partnerships with the National Endowment for the Arts and the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Special support for Southern Circuit is provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For more information on the Southern Arts Federation and its programs visit www.southarts.org.

Tickets: $5