Cinipix, a vertically integrated production, acquisition and distribution company announced today that it has acquired US distribution rights to Franklin Martin's inspirational sports documentary "Long Shot: The Kevin Laue Story" and will release the film theatrically this fall.
The deal marks the first film acquisition for Cinipix since the infusion of capital in March from prominent Wall Street financiers Howard Silverman and Neil Grossman, who created a specialized holding company (Toast & Jam Holdings, LLC) to fund the financing, production and distribution of feature film and TV content.
Cinipix CEO Todd Slater commented, "The unique connectivity sports has with audiences is very special and when you see a true, heartfelt and inspiring story play out, like Kevin Laue's, the emotions reverberate and you know millions of others will feel the same way. This is why we are excited to bring the original documentary to theaters in the US and are compelled to recreate the amazing story in a new feature film."
Dutchmen Films Director Franklin Martin (Hurricane Season, Walking On Dead Fish) added, "Cinipix has a great feel for story. Coupled with Todd Slater's
Passion for sports and the relentless work ethic that comes with it, our decision to become a Cinipix's acquisition was an easy one."
The film, set as a combination of "Blindside" and "Soul Surfer," meets "Hoop Dreams" is something that Martin has been crafting since he first met Laue.
Cinipix also plans to produce, with writer/director Franklin Martin's
Dutchmen Films and Billy Raftery, a new feature film based on the documentary. The film will be directed by Martin and executive produced by Julian McMahon, Charles Loventhal and Dain Blair.
About the film: "Long Shot: The Kevin Laue Story"
Kevin Laue began fighting for his life before he was even born. With his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck in the womb, Kevin fought back using his arm as a shield. Due to a lack of circulation from the cord, he was born with an arm that ended just below the elbow. His disability is a testament to his toughness and refusal to quit: "It was either my arm or my head," Kevin often jokes.
Kevin's father, a former athlete and demanding youth coach for his son's teams, had great difficulty accepting Kevin's disability; struggling to cope with having a son who would never have a normal life. Four years later, his father died of cancer and Kevin became determined to carry on his family's name and make his father proud by proving that he could be a success-not only in life, but in basketball.
By the time Kevin reached the seventh grade, he was 6' 9"; but still unable to make any of the local teams in upscale Pleasanton, California. Undeterred, Kevin's mother kept searching to find her son a coach, even crossing the tracks to beg the rival
High School coach for help.
Only after Coach McKnight agreed to allow Kevin a tryout did she mention that Kevin only had one arm. After a long day, Coach McKnight knew there was something special in Kevin. This began a five-year friendship between a black, cross-town rival coach and a white, preppy one-armed basketball player.
McKnight was able to drive Kevin in ways no one had ever done before, not even Kevin's mother-relentlessly. By the time Kevin was in high school, he was 6' 11" and his work with Coach McKnight had begun to pay off. He and McKnight's dreams grew bigger and he began to talk of playing Division One college basketball.
A serendipitous meeting at an AAU event with opposing coach and filmmaker, Franklin Martin, led to the inception of Long Shot. Over the next three years, Martin chronicled the day-to-day struggles of a teenage boy coming to terms with his need for his deceased father's approval by pursuing his seemingly impossible dream of becoming the first one-armed player in the history of college basketball.
This struggle takes Kevin on a journey from a sleepy town in California to a meeting with the President of the United States, a year at a Military Prep School and finally onto the bright lights of New York City....
Kevin Laue, who the film revolves around stated, "Last summer I played Long Shot on a white sheet nailed to the side of a hut in Africa. The entire village was in tears. And they were laughing too. Totally moved by it. So if this film can inspire a village in Africa, I know it can show people in the US, that nothing is impossible if you put your heart and soul into it.
About Cinipix
Cinipix is a vertically integrated production, acquisition and distribution company set up to produce and fund multiple films per year as well as acquire and partner with third party producers offering post production, equity, and sales partnerships. Current Cinipix projects include the thriller/action film "Raze" (Rachel Nichols, Zoe Bell) which will be released by
IFC Midnight in the US, thriller; "Devil's Ink", and horror film; "Parlor".
