The Barack and Michelle Obama-led shingle Higher Ground has partnered on documentary short “The Turnaround,” which will premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on Sept. 1. Barack and Michelle Obama, along with Higher Ground’s Vinnie Malhotra and Ethan Lewis, have joined the project as executive producers.
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Directed by Kyle Thrash and Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot, “The Turnaround” tells the story of Philadelphia Phillies’ superfan Jon McCann, who helped inspire an unlikely 2023 standing ovation for Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, which helped turned the team around after hitting a major roadblock.
The doc is one of three short films in Telluride’s main program. Proudfoot has won two Academy Awards in the doc short category for “The Queen of Basketball” (2022) and “The Last Repair Shop” (2024).
In 2018 the former President and first lady launched Higher Ground and signed a content development pact with Netflix. In June, Higher Ground extended its creative partnership with Netflix. The production company currently has a multiyear first-look deal with Netflix for all of the company’s film and television projects.
“The Turnaround,” which makes its world premiere at Telluride on Sunday, follows McCann, a proud Philadelphian who struggles with his mental health. McCann covers the Phillies on his YouTube channel where he is known as “The Philly Captain.” In 2022, after Trea Turner signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Phillies — one of the biggest contracts in MLB history — he entered a downward spiral despite the city’s high hopes for him. Fans subsequently turned against the player, feverishly booing Turner. In 2023 McCann, who is from Philadelphia’s Bridesburg neighborhood, proposed giving Turner a standing ovation instead of booing him. His suggestion went viral and inspired a 42,000-person ovation that would change the trajectory of Turner and the Phillies’ overall game.
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“Having grown up in the Philadelphia area and being a lifelong Phillies fan myself, I am in awe of how brilliantly Kyle and Ben have captured the heart and soul of the city,” says Malhotra, president of Higher Ground, “With such a unique and rarely seen perspective into a story that will go down in baseball history, ‘The Turnaround’ will take you through a range of emotions and delves into the emotional core of mental health of both our beloved players and the legions of fans who rally everyday to champion them.”
In a joint statement Thrash and Proudfoot added, “Jon’s is an American story for our time. We all have a choice of how we want to approach the world around us and all its challenges. Do you boo? Or do you give all the love you can give? Jon’s answer inspired us to make this film.”
Proudfoot produced the short doc alongside Breakwater Studios’ Nicholas Ruff (“The Mad Whale”) and Josh Rosenberg (“The Last Repair Shop”). The film was edited by Dillon M. Hayes and photographed by David Bolen with an original score by Ari Balouzian. Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios – a DICK’S Sporting Goods company – and Major League Baseball are also behind the documentary.
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