Full Frame Announces 2009 Thematic Program – This Sporting Life

March 12, 2009 - PRLog -- The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has announced 10 titles as part of the 2009 Thematic Program – This Sporting Life. Steve James, director of the acclaimed “Hoop Dreams” has curated this series of fiction and non-fiction films, including work that has contributed to the evolution of the contemporary sports film as well as more recent titles that continue to push the genre in new directions.

“After considering so many fine films for the series, I am really happy with the selections we’ve made.  They demonstrate the range and vibrancy of filmmaking that’s going on within the genre of sports,” comments Steve James. “And it was particularly fun to put together a program that includes films from the worlds of documentary and fiction.  I mean, what could be better than having a special Full Frame screening of ‘Slap Shot?’”

Support for Full Frame’s This Sporting Life thematic series was provided by the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Film titles include:

Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson
Directed by Barbara Kopple.
Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple portrays the swift rise and precipitous fall of one of boxing’s most complicated figures.

The Good Fight Work-in-Progress
Directed by George Butler.
One of the winningest coaches in college football, Bobby Bowden leads the Florida State team through the 2006 season—one of the toughest they ever faced—on a regimen of hard-core training and Baptist devotion.

Maletilla  
Directed by Victoria Clay-Mendoza.
Three up-and-coming bullfighters introduce us to the existential mysteries of the revered, violent, and intoxicatingly graceful relationship between man and bull.

Man Up
Directed by Arturo Cabanas.
A young boy and his well-intentioned soldier father, who dreams of training his son to be a champion wrestler, grapple with the chasm growing between them.

Paper Lion  
Directed by Alex March.
Alan Alda stars as George Plimpton, the famous reporter who went undercover as a Detroit Lion quarterback to get an inside look at the 1963 NFL season.

RANK
Directed by John Hyams.
Welcome to the saddle-busting, bone-breaking world of bull riding, where only the toughest cowboys can make it through a season to the final competition and its purse of one million dollars.

The Red Race
Directed by Chao Gan.
Young Chinese children, many of them from poor and rural areas, train relentlessly for Olympic glory, in part out of a crushing sense of obligation to their families, their coaches, and their nation.

Slap Shot  
Directed by George Roy Hill.
Paul Newman has the time of his life playing an aging hockey player-coach concocting outrageous schemes to save his team from the economic collapse afflicting their hometown.

This Sporting Life  
Directed by Lindsay Anderson.
Down-and-out coal miner Frank Machin, masterfully played by Richard Harris, rises to rugby league glory but fails at love in Lindsay Anderson’s first narrative film.

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait  
Directed by Philippe Parreno, Douglas Gordon.
Part experimental film, part subversive biography, part installation piece, and part sporting event, this film transports the viewer into the mythical zone that elite athletes at the top of their game inhabit.

In addition to the This Sporting Life thematic series, and in honor of Steve James’s involvement with this year’s festival, Full Frame has programmed a free community screening of  “Hoop Dreams.” Steve James’s deeply moving film follows Arthur Agee, Jr., and William Gates as they strive to achieve professional basketball stardom and escape poverty in Chicago. The screening will take place in Fletcher Hall at the Carolina Theater on Saturday, April 4, at 10:00am.  Following the screening, Steve James and William Gates will participate in a moderated conversation. Special support for the free screening was provided by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.

“Modestly, Steve James did not choose to include one of his own films, the seminal sports classic “Hoop Dreams,” in the thematic program.  However, as one of the single most influential sports films ever made, we could not miss the opportunity to offer our audiences the chance to see this classic on the big screen,” said Sadie Tillery, Full Frame’s director of programming. “We are thrilled to present this event as a free screening for our community and are especially honored that Steve James and William Gates will be in attendance.”

The 2009 Full Frame Documentary Festival will be held April 2 – 5, in Durham, N.C., with Duke University and The New York Times as presenting sponsors. Festival passes can be purchased until March 15, online at www.fullframefest.org or by calling Etix, the festival’s ticketing partner at 1-800- 514-3849.  Full Frame’s film schedule will be announced March 19, and advanced tickets go on sale March 23.

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The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. Each spring Full Frame welcomes filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to historic downtown Durham, N.C., for a four-day, morning to midnight array of over 100 films as well as discussions, panels, and southern hospitality. Set within a single city block, the intimate festival landscape fosters community and conversation between filmmakers, film professionals and the general public.

The festival is produced by Doc Arts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and receives support from corporate sponsors, private foundations and individual donors whose generosity provides the foundation that makes the event possible. To learn more on the mission of Full Frame or for information on membership or sponsorship opportunities, scheduled films or festival passes visit http://www.fullframefest.org.