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Gwinnett International Film Festival Announces Opening Night Film "Spirit of Love"

 

Atlanta, GA -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/01/2013 -- The award winning feature film Spirit of Love, the Mike “Stinger” Glenn story will be the opening night film for the inaugural International Film festival at the state of the art Gwinnett Cultural Arts Center and Arena near Atlanta in Duluth Georgia located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, July 26th, 2013. Tickets are now on sale at:

http://www.gwinnettcenter.com/Event-Info.66.0.html?&no_cache=1&tx_calendar_pi1%5Bf1%5D=1530

for $9.00 and the film festival has announced that a portion of the tickets sales will go to the Mike Glenn foundation to support his basketball camps for the deaf and hard of hearing. This is the first Georgia Premiere which is open to the public.

Spirit of Love is the new family film by Darla Rae and Film It Productions. The film was inspired by Glenn’s real life basketball camps for the deaf and hard of hearing which is currently hosting its 34th year. Mike Glenn played in the NBA for 10 seasons with the Knicks, and Hawks and currently is a sports analyst for Fox Sports South in Atlanta covering the Hawks games.

The film is about a group of misfit teens who show up at camp with Hoop Dreams while trying to survive teenage angst. Combined with the fact that it’s the first year girls will attend the camp allows for an authentic, charming, and inspiring film which will have you cheering and laughing through tears.

The film is unique as it is cast with unknown teens that are deaf and hard of hearing that had never acted or played basketball before. The film is also Open Captioned and features ASL (American Sign Language) along with spoken English so everyone can enjoy it together sitting side by side whether you are deaf or hearing.

“Were honored to have this opportunity to be a part of this event and open the film festival at the Gwinnett Center. Personally I’m elated that the festival decided to give a portion from the ticket sales to the Mike Glenn camps for the deaf and hard of hearing. I’ve never heard of a festival offering to do that. It’s quite remarkable and Mike and the kids deserve it, said Director, Producer, Darla Rae.

Recently the film was screened privately for coaches and athletes attending the 34th Mike Glenn camp. Coach Kathleen Richey-Walton whose teams actually play against the Mike Glenn camp all-stars said “Spirit of Love is a very inspirational movie. I even learned some things to help me in my coaching. I’m definitely going to use some of the things I saw last night in our program.

I hope this story becomes a major movie. I see more inspiration and life lessons in this movie than in the film “Hoosiers.”Thank you for letting us be a part of this Life Changing Event.” Coach Walton is department chair/Athletic Liaison at Southwest Dekalb High School and has won numerous state championships in basketball and La Crosse within the 4A,5A,6A divisions from 2008-2013.

When the kids showed up to audition for the film, Rae who wrote the screenplay was so inspired by their determination to be a part of the film that she went and rewrote the screenplay in order to give these teens the opportunity. For more information visit http://spiritoflovemovie.com