Heading Home: The Story of Team Israel

6 PM: Patio Reception, 6:30 PM: Speaker, 7 PM: Film

Presented by the White Mountain Jewish Film Festival
Directed by: Seth Kramer, Daniel Miller, and Jeremy Newberger; Starring: Ike Davis, Cody Decker, Sam Fuld, Ty Kelly, Ryan Lavarnway, Jerry Weinstein, Josh Zeid; 2018 (87Min) NR

A stirring story of sports, patriotism and personal growth, Heading Home charts the underdog journey of Israel’s national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. After years of defeat, Team Israel is finally ranked among the world’s best in 2017, eligible to compete in the prestigious international tournament. Their line-up included several Jewish American Major League players―Ike Davis, Josh Zeid and ex-Braves catcher Ryan Lavarnway―most with a tenuous relationship to Judaism, let alone having ever set foot in Israel. Their odyssey takes them from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where they are greeted as heroes, to Seoul where they must debunk their has-been, wannabe reputations. With their Mensch on the Bench mascot by their side, the team laughs, cries, and does much soul-searching, discovering the pride of representing Israel on the world stage.

Guest Speaker: Seth Kramer

Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger are Ironbound Films. Headquartered in an old inn on the Hudson River opposite West Point, Ironbound creates documentaries for theaters, television, and the web. They produced and directed Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel.

IIn addition, Daniel wrote, Seth edited, and Jeremy did art direction for the film. Seth was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Programming for Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans (PBS, 2002). Daniel was nominated for The Trial of Adolf Eichmann (PBS, 1997).