"Hamill" named best feature film at Miami Film Festival

Quote :

"Hamill," a feature film based on the life of UFC light heavyweight Matt Hamill (10-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC), is now two-for-two.

The film picked up the Audience Award for Best Feature Film this past weekend at the Miami Film Festival. The honor comes four months after it captured the Breakthrough Film award at the 2010 AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles.

"These awards are further proof to show that this film can survive theatrically and break the mold," "Hamill" writer Eben Kostbar told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Shot on a "modest budget" for release this past November at the AFI festival, "Hamill" dramatizes the deaf fighter's life and journey to success in the UFC.

The two screenings held at the Miami Film Festival drew 1,000 attendees. Kostbar said negotiations are underway with two major distributors for a limited theatrical release this summer and, hopefully, a nationwide release afterward.

The challenge, he said, is convincing distributors to take a chance on a film with an unknown deaf actor, Russell Harvard, in the lead role.

"We thought it wouldn't do the film justice if we hired name actor," he said. "We feel the story is so inspiring and unique that the only way we could make sure it was told right, and that we would get the support of the deaf community, was to put a deaf actor."

The movie next heads to the Cleveland International Film Festival, where the UFC will document Hamill's work promoting the film as part of the "Countdown to UFC 130" program.

Hamill, of course, is slated to fight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at the event, which takes place May 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Kostbar said the UFC president Dana White's support has been a crucial part of the film's success.

"He gave us footage for free and allowed us to shoot at the event for free, and he said when it's ready to be put out there, he'll help us promote it," he said. "He told us he'd never gotten behind or supported a film before. We're super excited and thrilled to have them on board."

The film can also be seen in the coming months at the Florida Film Festival, the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the Newport Beach Film Festival.

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does anyone remember when i posted the trailer? it looked really good.

josh200612 wrote:

does anyone remember when i posted the trailer? it looked really good.

no I don't remember any trailer on it, I've been wanting to check it out.

hahaha i was about to say find it.

josh200612 wrote:

does anyone remember when i posted the trailer? it looked really good.

yeah it did

[flash]

HAMILL - Official Teaser from Hamill the Movie on Vimeo.

[/flash]

Can someone tell me why Casey Uscola is playing Matt Hamill?

http://mmajunkie.com/news/25698/matt-hamill-biopic-film-the-hammer-set-for-limited-nationwide-release.mma
The story of Matt Hamill is coming to theaters across the country.

The biopic "The Hammer," a critically acclaimed film about the recently
retired UFC fighter's life, is set for a limited nationwide release.

The movie (which previously was called "Hamill") debuts early later this
month in 25 U.S. states and approximately 100 cities, project officials
recently announced.

Most of the selected theaters will show the film during a two-day run.
However, The Uptown Theatre in Utica, N.Y., has set aside five dates,
the first of which is Oct. 27. The other theaters debut the film on Oct.
27 or in early November.

"The Hammer" won awards from eight major film festivals.

Hamill, who was born deaf, made his way to the UFC via the third season
of "The Ultimate Fighter." The film, though, focuses largely on his
early years, the close relationship he had with his grandfather, his
struggles at Purdue University and ultimately his three national
wrestling titles at the Rochester Institute of Technology and his
personal life. But his MMA career, which included notable wins over the
likes of Mark Munoz and Tito Ortiz, also is covered.

The 35-year-old Hamill (10-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) announced his retirement in August.

Deaf actors Russell Harvard and Shoshannah Stern, as well as Raymond J.
Barry, star in the film, which Oren Kaplan directed. Rich Franklin, a
fellow Ohioan and infrequent training partner, has a
small part in "The Hammer" and plays the role of Hamill's Purdue coach.

I hope there is a part in their showing scenes from his greatest win...Jon Bones Jones

I heard something about this. DOH! That was insensetive of me..

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/2/9/2783933/matt-hamill-movie-ufc-the-hammer-light-on-mma-but-well-worth-seeing

When you look back at the post-2005 boom period in mixed martial arts, it's pretty incredible that Matt Hamill didn't get more national recognition for what he accomplished as a deaf professional athlete.

Over a 14-fight career spent almost completely in the UFC, Hamill competed against and beat some of the best the sport had to offer -- all while working with a disability.

Even with that incredible story that outlets like ESPN eat up and fans usually rally behind, Hamill was popular but never to the extent of a Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture. I think many thought of the college wrestling star as a gimmick of sorts, a fighter that was good enough to win some fights but could never get over the hump to true MMA greatness.

Fans and media alike treated him as a normal fighter, giving him the same praise and scrutiny as his peers, which if you ask Hamill, is probably exactly what he wanted.

Last year, The Hammer was released, a movie about Hamill's life, struggles and rise to fame. I had heard of the film several times, but for whatever reason, I wasn't that jazzed about seeing it because like many others, Hamill was kind of cold product as compared to his UFC peers. But when the film's producers offered to send me a copy to review recently, I was intrigued and put my aversions aside to give an unbiased review. I'm glad I did.

Had The Hammer (available on DVD/VOD) been released during the middle part of Hamill's career and if the UFC had got behind it as a must-see, I believe he would be a mega-star. While there isn't a doubt that some of the details were embellished for the big screen, Hamill's story is one that anyone that enjoys sports movies and tales of adversity will really get into.

If you're expecting Warrior, this ain't it. The only references to the UFC are in the beginning and end and there's nothing on why he went into MMA, outside one of the disc's special features. The main focus is on Hamill's upbringing and his struggles in an environment that wasn't hearing impaired friendly. The filmmakers do a great job at instantly making Hamill (amazingly played by Russell Harvard) a sympathetic figure and his grandfather (played by Raymond J. Berry, aka Arlo Givens on Justified) into a grizzled father figure who struggles to admit Hamill is different.

Read the rest of the review after the jump.

Star-divide

The meat of the movie is how Hamill got into wrestling, his high school accomplishments, his failures at Purdue, his admission to Rochester Institute of Technology and how the experiences change him. Along the way, he makes friends, gets his heart broken, meets a new girl and has to slay a beast as all heroes do: the reigning college wrestling champion from a rival school.

While the movie is around 1:45 long, there are a few plot threads that are skipped over. His mother and grandfather never go to see him wrestle or even bring him to college despite being important figures in his life. Purdue apparently is very non-accommodating to deaf students and the wrestling program comes off looking bad for letting him flounder. How he learns to eventually talk and understand language is barely touched from childhood to being a teenager. We go from little kid to high school senior in seconds.

Again, be warned that this isn't an MMA movie (even though Rich Franklin plays a small role) and the subtitling of dialogue during his R.I.T. days is heavy. The latter, however, is what rounds out the experience and the sound engineers do a great job at helping the viewer feel what Hamill felt everyday. It's not a big budget movie by any means, but they deserve some extra credit for pulling that off.

While in Philadelphia last August for UFC 133, I had the opportunity to cover what would be Hamill's final fight, a third round TKO loss to Alexander Gustafsson. It was on the Spike undercard and because of bigger stars like Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Tito Ortiz, it went overlooked. He quietly retired shortly thereafter, owner of a 10-4 record with nine wins in the Octagon -- something many people would have once dreamed impossible.

It looked like a comedy.

Ali wrote:

It looked like a comedy.

Only if you're a soulless bastard.

OU wrote:

Ali wrote:

It looked like a comedy.

Only if you're a soulless bastard.

The trailer I remember seriously looked like a comedy. It had Rich Franklin.

Ali wrote:

OU wrote:

Ali wrote:

It looked like a comedy.

Only if you're a soulless bastard.

The trailer I remember seriously looked like a comedy. It had Rich Franklin.

I know Rich looks like Jim Carey and all, but this ain't no comedy.