Coming to PBS’s AfroPoP series this coming Monday, February 10: BOYS OF SUMMER
Keith Aumont’s chronicle of Curaçao’s all-star Little League team’s run for the World Series made its debut at the New York International Latino Film Festival in 2010. It went on to screen at New Orleans, the Dominican Republic’s Global Film Festival, Sebastopol Doc, Palm Beach, Austin’s Cine Las Americas, and Utrecht’s Latin American Film Festival, among others.
At the start of Aumont’s film, Curaçao, despite its small size, has sent its all-star team to the Little League World Series for an impressive seven consecutive years. Picking up just six weeks before an important regional Caribbean championship, the film profiles coach Vernon, other supporters, and several of the players as they train and compete to once again make it to their ultimate destination – the World Series. It’s not lost on the subjects that, although they’ve competed at this highest level, they ultimately lost to Japan the previous year. Still, their accomplishments have elevated the team to national heroes, a point of pride for the tiny island nation, and a motivation to succeed. While Aumont generally hews to the line of competition doc conventions, Vernon emerges as a compelling substitute father figure who pushes his charges to never give less than what he knows they’re capable of, and narrative expectations are often upended as the team gets closer to their goal.
what (not) to doc 