The Only Real Game
About the Film
Year: 2014
Duration: 82 minutes
The Only Real Game is a fighters’ and dreamers’ story about the magic of baseball for people in a remote and troubled place. Once princely Manipur, a strife-torn border state in northeast India, defies civil war, drugs, gun traffic, and HIV/AIDS through love of our national pastime. Dreams chase reality in this ancient region when a small group of baseball-loving New Yorkers, and two Major League Baseball Envoy coaches, team up with Manipuri men, women and children to “Play Ball.” It’s a far away story that brings us to the heart of the great American Game, or as Babe Ruth put it, “the only real game in the world.”
For more information, go to the film’s website at: http://onlyrealgamemovie.com/
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“A masterful and extraordinary film. The wonders of the game of baseball, the dreams it arouses and the communities it creates, burst through…”
Creative Team
Director
Mirra Bank
Producers
Mirra Bank
Richard Brockman
Muriel “Mike” Peters
Laine Valentino
Executive Producer
Abigail E. Disney
Narrator
Melissa Leo
Project Consultant, Special Manipuri Liaison
L. Somi Roy
Director of Photography
Axel Baumann
Manipur: 2nd Unit Director
Dave Thoudam
Manipur: 2nd Unit DP
Bona Meisnam
Editor
Pamela Scot Arnold
Maxwell Anderson
Additional Editing
Adam Zucker
Composer
Paul Brill
Music Consultant
Zeyba Rahman
Special Production Consultant
Uday Jhunjhuwala
Film Festivals and Awards
Winner Directors’ Choice AMERICAN SPIRIT Award
Sedona International Film Festival
Winner ACCOLADE AWARD of Merit
Feature Documentary
Winner BEST DOCUMENTARY
New York Indian Film Festival
Opening Night Film
Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival
Winner GOLD AWARD FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Asia Pacific International Filmmaker Awards
Winner GOLD AWARD FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
The International Film Festival for Women, Social Issues, and Zero Discrimination
Award of Merit, Special Mention The IndieFest
The International Film Festival for Women, Social Issues, and Zero Discrimination
“Mirra Bank’s warmhearted documentary… drops us into an oasis of play inside a region of hurt…there’s enough honest grace to the obvious enjoyment this legendary sport gives people — whether struggling Manipuris or rejuvenated ex-pros — to make The Only Real Game a stirring ode to cultural bridge-building.”