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Import

Cut from his Serbian team, an American basketball player stops at nothing to play another game.

synopsis

Danny Ingram is a 28 year-old American basketball player living in Belgrade, Serbia. His days are comprised of endless training and a relentless commitment to the upkeep of his body. When he’s unexpectedly cut from his team, the order of his life quickly comes apart. With his housing revoked and a dwindling supply of cash, Danny sets out into the darkened streets of Belgrade, determined to find his next team. Discovering little demand for a player with his history of injuries, Danny finds an unpaid position on the practice squad of a revered Serbian team, a tenuous arrangement forcing him to compete with younger players all vying for a permanent spot on the team. As the strain on his body increases and his drive to succeed intensifies, Danny’s actions turn increasingly desperate, thrusting him into a disorienting world of violence and crime. With his body breaking down and his money quickly fading, Danny finally confronts the cost of his ambition and the physical toll of its endless pursuit.

Director’statement

When I was 15 years old, I would convince my dad to drive me to my high school gym at 6 am so I could practice basketball. There would be mornings when I would wave him off with a smile and wait in the cold, ball clutched beneath my arm, because the school janitor had yet to arrive to unlock the doors. I thought with enough hard work, success was guaranteed. Sports condition this kind of rigid thinking. You control your destiny, so long as you remain in relentless pursuit of it. This type of determination is what I find most compelling in my characters: people who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. It is this very mentality that drives Danny forward at all costs, whatever the consequences may be. It is the same reason why the camera will never leave him. By creating a subjective experience in its most heightened form, Import will depict every moment and emotion as Danny experiences it. Sport, not as an arena of glory, but as something gruelling and surreal. I failed to reach the heights I dreamt I would with basketball. Import is the celebration of that.

TFL PROGRAMME:
ScriptLab 2022
Discover more details here:
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TFL Catalogue 2022

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