Support the home team: “Streetballers” at Tivoli and Ronnie’s, Friday
It’s rare for a locally made film to screen for paying customers, and rarer for it to screen at more than one venue. But the basketball flick “Streetballers” is an honorable exception, a home-grown product that deserves a naitional roll-out. It opens at the Tivoli and Ronnie’s theaters on Friday, and if it does well, it could hit the road.
The producers’ goal is to score the highest per-screen average of any film in America, so Hollywood will take notice and offer a distribution deal. That’s aiming high, but I don’t underestimate this team.
Director and co-star Matt Krentz has spent years honing “Streetballers,” a story about two St. Louisans–one Irish, one black–who form an unlikely friendship on the illegal streetball circuit. Former Mizzou basketbal star Jimmy McKinney plays the teammate, and the movie’s got a raw authenticity. It won the audience choice award at last year’s St. Louis International Film Festival.
Nelly and the St. Lunatics have lent their music to a trailer. Here it is:
There’s a star-studded VIP preview at Ronnie’s on Thursday night (but of course, you’d already know that if you were a VIP); and an after-party at the Pepper Lounge. We’ll have a review of “Streetballers” in the Friday Post-Dispatch. For more information about the move and the local screenings, visit the movie’s Web site.
IS THIS WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP REMAKE?