A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
Elliot Goodman is rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery following a heart attack on the golf course. In the operating room, Elliot hears the voice of God and is ultimately challenged to a 9-hole golf match, with his life hanging in the balance. If he wins, he will survive the surgery. If he loses...
To save his own life, Elliot must compete against nine different world legends. With a new opponent on each hole, from Leonardo da Vinci to Abe Lincoln and Marilyn Monroe, Sigmund Freud to Christopher Columbus. Each player brings a different game, a new inspiration. For Elliot to survive, he must embrace the insightful lessons shared by his opponents throughout this extraordinary, enlightening and often hilarious golf match.
THE BACK NINE: A Hollywood Connection
A follow up to the critically acclaimed first film in the series (THE BACK NINE), we catch up with our golfer, who at 40 accepted the challenge to chase his dream of playing professional golf. With his passion for the sport, the right team, training schedule and commitment, he took his handicap from 15 to 4 and is now playing to scratch and competing in Amateur tournaments. As the quest continues, Fitzgerald draws the connection between Hollywood and golf. The film captures the history of Palm Springs, playground to the stars. With a career in the movie business, seeing how these two worlds intersect in his life, Fitzgerald finds himself at a crossroads. Golf? Film? Both?
SHOOTING AN ALBATROSS
In 1943, it's wartime in Hollywood. The US Army Battalion takes over El Rancho Golf Course, the only year a full season of professional golf is cancelled. As the war wages on, a challenge match is scheduled to take place at El Rancho, Army against Navy, each presenting their best player to partner with his respective General. The Army's Private Wilkins practices daily, while tensions mount between the other soldiers, the general and the surrounding community. When Wilkins falls in love with the daughter of a movie mogul, whose mansion lines an El Rancho fairway, the drama escalates with intrigue, jealously, and murder.
After the fateful match, Wilkins is forced to return to war with his Battalion, leaving his new love behind. Soon, the war comes to an end. Will he make it back to La La land and the girl who patiently awaits his return?
SERENDIPITY GREEN
In this devilishly funny story, we are introduced to Tuttwyler, Ohio, the perfect Midwestern town: beautiful main square, a gazebo dripping with gingerbread, leafy streets lined with big white houses. Even the town's annual summer Festival, Squaw Days, is perfect. The only thing that's not perfect is Howie Dornick's house. The eyesore is right on the parade route and hasn't been painted in years. With pressure from the Parade Committee, Howie agrees to paint his house, but not white like all the others. It's an unusual shade of green and the town is in an uproar. Then, at the annual Festival, Hugh Harbinger sees the house. As New York City's most famous color designer, he sees huge potential, and names it Serendipity Green, soon to be the next big color. Thanks to the raging success of this new color and the merchandizing extravaganza that ensues, simpleton Howie and his eco-friendly, librarian lover Katherine Hardihood are brought out of their shells, inspired to finally make a meaningful contribution to the world beyond their small town by standing up for their right to "color" their lives as they see fit.
THE LAST GASP
The story follows Dr. Gavin Chase and a handful of other top-notch environmental scientists as they search for a solution to the problems of their day. They fight to warn the world of impending environmental disaster and race to discover its causes. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, an abandoned missile silo known as THE TOMB has been transformed into a safe, luxurious refuge for the most wealthy and most powerful. Gavin's son Daniel leads their family across the country towards the Tomb, in a final effort to save their lives and ultimately make a difference for the future of mankind. People on the outside must fight for survival in a toxic environment. The human genome is changing, adapting to the noxious air. Those who show symptoms are called "Mutes", human evolution in the wrong direction. They are gathering en masse, to attack the privileged community inside The Tomb, while the leaders inside plot their escape to outer space. Humanity is failing... the biosphere is dying... this is THE LAST GASP.
SEQUENCE
A hair-raising and thought-provoking thriller set in the burgeoning new world of Reprogenetics: the technology that will change our evolution by genetically enhancing humans through DNA modification. Claire Claibourne - a brilliant but apprehensive post-graduate in gene research finds herself at the heart of an immense and terrifying conspiracy led by her father and a powerful circle of industry and political leaders. In an effort to overturn the secret mission and the fate of the human race, she must accept the role she was destined to play and rely upon unknown powers endowed to her at birth.
UGANDA SKATE UNION (Documentary)
Jackson Mubiru is the director of the Uganda Skateboard Union, and its Kitintale Skate Park in Kampala district. The park has been around for just over three years, and today over fifty kids skate there regularly. However, as the number of kids continues to grow, so too does the reality of lack of gear, and many of the kids are in need of a bigger, better and a more challenging skate park. The park relies solely on private donations for now; but Jack's vision for the future is to have two main skate parks in Kampala, to see skate boarding included in school parks, create annual skating competitions and see a number of kids from the parts enter international contests. With the help of outside investment and key players from the US, Jack's vision kicks into higher gear. The role skate boarding plays for the youth here is truly inspirational. The sport teaches patience, embraces solidarity and friendship, and eliminates idleness. Ultimately, the skate park is a place where kids can have some fun, a welcome reprieve from the horrors that engulf their region. USU will cover the back story and track the evolution of the inspirational program.
GAMERS (Documentary)
Video games have become a multi-billion dollar industry. Whether it's Xbox, Wii, or online sources, the gaming industry took in over 12 billion dollars in 2009, and is a worldwide phenomenon. While this industry creates jobs, entertainment and feeds an economy, games are now recognized as having an addictive affect, and have in fact cost people their livelihoods, their families and in some cases, their lives. Over a dozen people have died in the past few years as a direct result of gaming. Couples have also met and married through internet gaming and pilots in armed forces have training in video games. Through GAMERS, we will explore this gaming universe, investigating the industry, those who profit, those who play and those who suffer.
GREEN MACHINES (Documentary)
As the world searches for solutions to its reliance on petroleum-based energy sources (a.k.a. oil) growing food shortages, the constant threat of global warming, polluted air and water supplies, and an ever increasing population crisis, there is a single-celled organism that many believe holds the key to addressing ALL of these pressing issues. These organisms are known by one simple name: ALGAE.
GREEN MACHINES follows a group of scientists, advocates government officials and green entrepreneurs as they explore, experiment and race to produce what the world needs most: fuel, food, clean air and clean water. How ironic that the power of algae, one of nature's key building blocks and purifiers, the organism responsible for the birth of our planet's atmosphere is now being harnessed by scientists to solve so many of the world's problems.
Each scientist has a different approach to solving the problems. GREEN MACHINES will follow these stories, as they intersect in compelling, educational and entertaining ways en route to solving some of the world's biggest problems.
UNTITLED BAKSHI ART PROJECT
Told through the eyes legendary filmmaker Ralph Bakshi, this film is about art and inspiration, a journey seen through the eyes of America's greatest artistic heroes. America is often referred to as the "melting pot" and this concept applies to America's approach to art - a blend of people, talent, experiences, and imagination. As we trace the stories of these artists, drawing connections to their place in American history, we will better understand their influence on both Ralph's work and work of other writers, poets, musicians and filmmakers. Told in a Ken Burns-style, with Ralph's personal story as a throughline, we will explore the histories, art and influence of those who inspired him most, such as: Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Jackson Pollock, John Coltrane, Bill Mauldin and many, many more. From Quentin Tarantino, to film and art critics, interviewees will discuss how they were inspired by Ralph's work. This film will also explore Ralph's feelings on how America seems to have lost its way, its sense of purpose, its heroes; and yet by highlighting those who had such an influence on his life, he hopes to inspire new heroes on their artistic journey. The film will conclude with his Fine Art Show and Animation Life Achievement Award in New York, reinforcing that regardless of your age or experience, "once an artist - always an artist."
