Blog: Posts in “Alaska Film” Category

The 2-Disc Touching the Game, Alaska DVD is scheduled to be released on 11/30/09, but we will be accepting pre-orders beginning on Saturday 6/20. At a price of $19.95, the DVD will feature the full-length director’s cut of the film as well as plenty of extra features and unseen footage, and if you pre-order now you will receive free shipping upon the DVD release!  There will also be a discounted price if you order both our films: Touching The Game, Alaska and our 2004 release Touching the Game, The Story of the Cape Cod Baseball League.   

It’s been years in the making, but on Friday 6/19, Touching The Game, Alaska will premiere in Fairbanks, AK as part of the Midnight Sun weekend festivities.  This years Midnight Sun Game is on Sunday 6/21, but the city of Fairbanks will celebrate the Summer Solstice all weekend long kicking off with the long-awaited documentary on the Alaska Baseball League.  The film will play at the Pioneer Park theater at 7:00pm. The Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks, the team that started it all, are selling ticket packages to the film on Friday, their 50 year celebration dinner on Saturday, and the Midnight Sun Game on Sunday.  Go to www.goldpanners.com for more details.  There are plans in the works for other Fairbanks screenings as well.  The Anchorage premiere will be in late July.  More details to follow.

Rough cuts of the film are going out this week to Alaska League GMs and a few others in the baseball world to review.   Our plan is still to have screenings this summer in the four Alaska League cities.  We are also investigating film festivals and talking to cable television outlets about airing the film.  The DVD will also be released sometime this year. Unfortunately, we did not get into this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which is a little disappointing but was always a long shot at best.  The good news to come out of it is now we are not as rushed to finalize all aspects of the film, and can better focus on our original plan for summer release.  Keep checking our website for more updates.  We think we have a great film and are very excited for it’s release!

Down in Spring Training, we recently were able to get an interview with ESPN Baseball Analyst Peter Gammons for our soon to be released Alaska film.  Gammons, who often can be found around the Cape Cod Baseball League each summer was a big part of Touching The Game, The Story of The Cape Cod Baseball League.  His knowledge of baseball is unsurpassed and he always has great stories.  Peter has only been to Alaska once in 1984, but it was enough to see Randy Johnson pitch for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. He told that story and talked in depth about the league.  He joins a host of famous past and present Major League players as part of our documentary, scheduled to be released later this summer.

We’re getting close! In January we submitted the Alaska film rough cut to the TriBeca Film Festival as a work in progress, and have since come a long way toward finishing the film.That being said, we still don’t have an exact release date planned. Depending on festival possibilities and maybe T.V, it looks like the 2 Disc DVD set will be out as early as the beginning of July and as late as MLB playoff time in the fall. And regardless of the DVD release, we’re planning on having showings throughout Alaska and possibly the lower 48 this summer. Thanks to all of you patiently waiting…. we think you’re going to love the film! 

Take a look at the updated version of our Alaska Film trailer.We’ve added a few things like actual footage of the plane crash in Anchorage, more past and present players and even a shot of Gov. Palin at a Mat-Su game.

What a rainy summer in the ABL. Many games cancelled! We were in AK for a week in July, the goal being to film Helicopter aerials, but the weather wouldn’t let up, so we got shut out. Lots of other great material captured this spring and summer, though, and we’re zeroing in on our release/premiere avenues. Many of you have asked about our release plans, and although we can’t give an exact date, we can fill you in on what’s happening. It looks like the TriBeca film festival in New York (April 22 – May 3, 2009) is our target. Submission deadline is in December with announcements in early 2009. Although this is later than we had originally planned to release, we’re very excited about the possibilities, and if we are accepted to TriBeca, the publicity and  buzz will be the best vehicle for exposing the film and the league. We are also discussing T.V. broadcast with several major cable outlets, and you can expect some screenings in Alaska and elsewhere next Spring/Summer.

We have just come off a very successful West Coast and Arizona trip where we interviewed some of the biggest names to play in the Alaska Baseball League.  They don’t come any bigger than MLB Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Dave Winfield, and they both were nice enough to give us lengthy interviews about their summers in Alaska.  We also made the rounds at Spring Training sites in Arizona and talked to current MLB players such as Jered Weaver, Michael Young, Craig Counsell, and Mark Teahen.  We are not finished yet though as we are still planning to talk to some more BIG names in the near future.  We will be sure to keep you up to date! 

There’s Yankees/Red Sox, Michigan/Ohio State and Redskins/Cowboys, but when you talk rivalries in Alaska, you have to start with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots and the Anchorage Bucs. The rivalry hits it’s peak every 4th of July when the two teams play a doubleheader to a packed house at Mulcahy stadium.  While filming in 2007, we wanted to make sure we were at this event, and it did not disappoint.  As you will see in the video, we even had a little fun in the first game by attaching a microphone to Glacier Pilot 3rd baseman Michael Murphy (Jr.-Maryland) and Pilots coach Chris Jones.  The day was capped off by a fireworks display that, although could not take place during the dark of night (remember this is summer in Alaska), was still magnificent and enjoyed by all.  Just go the Alaska film clips page or click here to view!

Well, we’re coming close to wrapping principal photography on the Alaska Film, heading out to Arizona and L.A. in the next weeks to interview a number of current Major Leaguers, as well as the last of the Hall of Famers on our list. Then the schedule calls for one last trip to AK in early summer for pickup shots & aerials.

Many of you have sent e-mails about Pre-sales of the film. We would love to Pre-Sell the film, but until we determine the festival route, we can’t, which is really a shame, because small, independent documentary productions can always use capital.

We haven’t scheduled a release date yet, but that will happen later in the Summer.  We may have an opportunity to premiere at one of the larger festivals, which would be great for everyone, but which means we can’t schedule release yet.To that end, we have received the help of many individuals and organizations so far in the making of the film, and we continue to receive inquiries about contributing to the film in a variety of ways. The most popular seems to be through one of the “Tax Deductible” contribution methods we’ve established. Each of the Alaska Baseball League Teams is a Non-profit 501(c)3 organization and we have structures in place whereby the Team takes the contribution directly and passes on a portion to us for the production of the film. If you are interested in being a part of the making of this film, please take a look at the “For Investors” page , and/or contact us directly and we can discuss in more detail.Stay Tuned….The trailer for the 4th of July in Anchorage should be on the site shortly, along with updates on the League and Players .