The organisers of the Durban International Film Festival are extremely happy to present as its closing night film Million Dollar Arm (USA, 2014) from director Craig Gillespie, starring Jon Hamm. The screening will take place on Saturday the 26 July at 7pm and the Suncoast CineCentre Supernova.
Million Dollar Arm follows a once-successful sports agent named JB Bernstein who finds himself edged out by younger, slicker competitors. While watching cricket being played in India on late night TV, he comes up with an idea so radical it just might work. Why not go to India and find the next baseball pitching sensation? Setting off for Mumbai, JB stages a televised, nationwide competition. 40 000 hopefuls compete and two 18-year-old finalists, Rinku and Dinesh, emerge as winners. But JB’s job really begins when he returns to America to try to get the two young men signed to a major baseball league.
Talking about the film, Festival Manager, Peter Machen, saiys, “Million Dollar Arm is a film that is both accessible and engaging, as well as being beautifully crafted and filled with great performances, making it a strong festival title, as well providing an enjoyable note on which to close the festival after ten days of intense viewing”
The winning films in a variety of categories at Durban International Film Festival 2014 will be announced prior to the screening of the film.
The Durban International Film Festival ends this Sunday, July 27 . The festival includes more than 200 theatrical screenings and a full seminar and workshop programme, as well as the Wavescape Film Festival, the Wild Talk Africa Film Festival, and various industry initiatives, including the 7th Talent Campus Durban (in cooperation with the Berlin Talent Campus) and the 5th Durban FilmMart co-production market (in partnership with the Durban Film Office).