Filmmaker: Jonathan Hock
Runtime: 85 mins
Synopsis:
The essence of baseball is the primal battle between the pitcher and the batter – one man with a ball, one with a stick. All the magic of the game arises from that confrontation, only 396 milliseconds in the making. The mysteries, myths, and memories of Baseball’s greatest heroes are investigated and revealed in Fastball, based on the original idea by the film’s Producer, Thomas Tull, who also produced the feature film “42.” The film features interviews with dozens of former players, from legendary Hall of Famers to up-and-coming All-Stars, peppered with archival footage of baseball’s greatest moments plus original high-speed 4K footage and motion graphics that unlock the secrets hidden within a ball traveling over 100 mph. While the players, historians, and scientists in the film might disagree on who was actually the fastest pitcher in history – and yes, the film does the physics and comes out with a very clear verdict – Fastball tells the story of the game itself.
About the Filmmaker
Jonathan Hock is a ten-time Emmy Award winning producer, director, writer and editor. His first documentary feature “Through the Fire” had its world premiere at Tribeca in 2005, and his later films “The Lost Son of Havana” (2009) and “Off the Rez” (2011) also premiered here. Hock has directed four documentaries for ESPN’s Emmy and Peabody Award winning “30 For 30” series, including “Unguarded,” which was named Best Documentary of the year by Sports Illustrated; “The Best That Never Was” (2010); “Survive and Advance” (2013) and “Of Miracles and Men” (Emmy winner, Best Sports Documentary, 2015).