Roberto Blanchard is rolling out the first of a three- film slate May 1 when he premieres his family baseball drama “The Magic of Summer” at the Burnham Plaza Theater.
Writer/director/producer Blanchard shot for a total of 60 days over a two-year period ending last summer. Zeke Gonzales shot on Super 16mm.
Commercial veteran Nefra Burlock stars as a woman who takes over coaching duties for a hardscrabble, multi-ethnic inner city baseball team and winds up teaching them not only the fundamentals of the game, but also about self-respect.
“I’d love for it to become an after-school film that always get played because of the family values,” Blanchard said. “I was inspired by my childhood playing ball, and because I wanted to take my daughter to a movie where somebody’s head wasn’t always getting blown off ? a movie that showed a lot of realism about family living.”
Blanchard, who has owned several retail stores, financed the under-$1 million cash budget through his Blanchard Films, by selling real estate holdings. He estimated a final budget of $2.5 million including deferrals.
Blanchard has two other features in the final stages of postproduction: the 35mm horror “From the Depths of Hell” and the Super 16mm action drama “Sinister Reign.”
Blanchard said he’s shopping the three pictures to execs at distributors including Paramount Classics, HBO, Blockbuster and York Entertainment.
“The Magic of Summer” co-stars Eric Prince, and teen actors Tim Taylor, Kenneth Torry and Jon Solvent. Gaffer was Dan Suomi. Sound by Bob Richardson. Blanchard cut at his own facility.
“The Magic of Summer” premieres Saturday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Burnham Plaza Theater, 826 S. Wabash.
Reach Blanchard at 773/275-6257 or view the trailers for the three films at www.blanchardfilms.com.
