Hockeyland

Last updated
Hockeyland
Hockeyland poster.jpg
Hockeyland poster
Directed byTommy Haines
Produced byTommy Haines, JT Haines, Andrew Sherburne
StarringBlake Biondi, Elliot Van Orsdel, Indio Dowd, Will Troutwine
CinematographyBenjamin Handler
Music byWill Blair, Brooke Blair
Production
company
Northland Films
Distributed by Greenwich Entertainment
Release date
  • September 9, 2022 (2022-09-09)(United States)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Hockeyland a 2022 American documentary film directed by Tommy Haines and produced by Northland Films, [1] immerses audiences deep in the heart of Minnesota's North Country, where hockey is just as central to life as football was to the fictional town of Dillon, Texas, and the frozen surface that separates every teenage boy from the man they hope to become one day is criss-crossed with red and blue lines. [2] The film opened theatrically as the #1 documentary in the country for the week of September 9 and was a 2022 Critics Choice nominee for "Best Sports Documentary". [3]

Contents

Synopsis

Minnesota is the heartland of US hockey, creating more skaters-on the local rinks and in the NHL-than any other state. Here, the senior boys of rival towns-one an emerging dynasty, the other with a fabled past-face down uncertain futures as they skate for a last chance to etch their names into local lore. Where Texas football has Friday Night Lights, Minnesota high school hockey has Hockeyland.

Reception

David Ehrlich, IndieWire's Chief Film Critic, calls the film "raw and brutally absorbing...and as fresh as a newly Zamboni-ed sheet of ice." [4] ESPN's Greg Wyshinski describes the film as "a fascinating look at Minnesota High School Hockey." [5] Alex Mitchell of the New York Post expounds the film "captures a way of life like no other" [6] Bruce Miller, film critic for the Sioux City Journal , praises the film as "one of those documentaries that sets the bar for others." MSP Magazine writer Steve Marsh says "Hockeyland transcends its genre: this is more than a hockey movie, this is drama." [7]

Box office

Dirstributed by Greenwich Entertainment, the film opened as the #1 documentary for the week of September 9th, 2022. [8]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards November 13, 2022 Best Sports DocumentaryHockeylandNominated [9]
St. Louis Film Critics Association November 21, 2021The Joe Williams Documentary Feature AwardHockeylandNominated [10]

Festivals

World Premiere - DocNYC (November 2021) [11]
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (February, 2022) [12]
Seattle International Film Festival (April, 2022) [13]
St. Louis International Film Festival
Milwaukee International Film Festival (May, 2022) [14]
RiverRun International Film Festival (May, 2022) [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Boy Arena</span> Ice rink in Fraser, Michigan, U.S.

Big Boy Arena in Fraser, Michigan, is a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) ice center and entertainment venue offering five rinks for hockey, figure skating, inline skating, camps, clinics, private lessons, leagues, and special events. Its largest ice rink is a stadium arena with a 3,400-seat capacity. The ice center was the home of the Motor City Mechanics of the former United Hockey League. It was also home to the Metro Jets junior and youth hockey organization from 2015 to 2021. The complex was the host of the 2007 USA Hockey National Championships for the Midget division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Baker (filmmaker)</span> American director, producer and screenwriter

Sean Baker is an American film director, cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and editor. He is best known for the independent feature films Starlet (2012), Tangerine (2015), The Florida Project (2017), and Red Rocket (2021), as well as the Fox/IFC puppet sitcom Greg the Bunny and its spin-offs.

<i>Pond Hockey</i> 2008 American film

Pond Hockey is a 2008 American documentary film, directed by Tommy Haines, and produced by Northland Films. The film is an examination of the changing culture of pond hockey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northland Films</span> American independent film production company

Northland Films Inc. is an independent documentary film production company. The Midwest-based crew has produced award-winning documentary films that have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times,Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and on ESPN and NBC Sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington International Film Festival</span>

The Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) is an annual nonprofit film festival dedicated to promoting and increasing multicultural awareness and showcases world cinema and independent films in their original language with English subtitles. Independent film producers, directors and actors within the US and abroad are invited to participate in engaging panel discussions and Q&A sessions after the screenings. Each year the festival greets more than 2,000 movie aficionados and shows about fifty films from all over the world with an impressive lineup of premieres. The Arlington International Film Festival also includes a year-round events such as poster contest competitions, pre-festival screenings and art exhibitions with local artists and performances by musicians, singers and dancers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabe Polsky</span> American film producer

Gabe Polsky is an American film director, writer and producer.

Doc NYC is an annual documentary film festival in New York City. Co-founded by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen, the festival is the country's largest documentary film festival with over 300 films and events and 250 special guests. By 2014, DOC NYC had become America's largest documentary film festival and voted by MovieMaker magazine as one of the "top five coolest documentary film festivals in the world". The festival takes place over 9 days in November at the West Village's IFC Center, Chelsea's Cinépolis, and SVA Theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ky Dickens</span>

Ky Dickens is a filmmaker, writer and director best known for her documentaries Show Her The Money, Zero Weeks, Sole Survivor, The City That Sold America and Fish out of Water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi</span> American film director

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi is an American documentary filmmaker. She was the director, along with her husband, Jimmy Chin, for the film Free Solo, which won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film profiled Alex Honnold and his free solo climb of El Capitan in June 2017. Their first scripted film venture was Nyad, a biopic chronicling Diana Nyad's quest to be the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida.

<i>The Homestretch</i> (2014 film) 2014 American film

The Homestretch is a 2014 American documentary film produced and directed by Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly. De Mare and Kelly intended the film to serve as a challenge to the negative stereotypes of youth homelessness. The film premiered at the 2014 HotDocs Film Festival on April 26, 2014. It went on to play at the 2014 AFI Docs Film Festival and the 2014 Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Osit</span> American filmmaker (born 1987)

David Osit is an American documentary filmmaker, editor and composer. His documentaries include Mayor and Thank You for Playing.

<i>Minding the Gap</i> 2018 documentary film directed by Bing Liu

Minding the Gap is a 2018 documentary film directed by Bing Liu. It was produced by Liu and Diane Moy Quon through Kartemquin Films. It chronicles the lives and friendships of three young men growing up in Rockford, Illinois, united by their love of skateboarding. The film received critical acclaim, winning the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Workman</span> American filmmaker and editor

Jeremy Workman is an American filmmaker and editor. His documentary films frequently focus on artists, eccentrics, outsiders, and those with extreme passions. His acclaimed films include Secret Mall Apartment, Deciding Vote,Lily Topples The World, The World Before Your Feet, Magical Universe, and Who Is Henry Jaglom? In many of his films, Workman serves as the director, cinematographer, and editor.

<i>Red Penguins</i> 2019 sports documentary film by Gabe Polsky

Red Penguins is a 2019 sports documentary film written, produced and directed by Gabe Polsky, in co-production with Studio Hamburg Enterprises and Norddeutscher Rundfunk. The film premiered on September 5, 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It received Writers Guild of America and Critics Choice awards nominations.

<i>Flee</i> (film) 2021 animated documentary film

Flee is a 2021 independent adult animated documentary film directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. An international co-production with Denmark, France, Norway, and Sweden, it follows the story of a man under the alias Amin Nawabi, who shares his hidden past of fleeing his home country of Afghanistan to Denmark for the first time. Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serve as executive producers and narrators for the English-language dub version.

<i>Desert One</i> (film) 2019 American film

Desert One is an 2019 American documentary film directed and produced by Barbara Kopple. It follows Operation Eagle Claw, a mission that was an attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis by rescuing 52 embassy staff held hostage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Olson</span> American documentary director and producer

Hannah Olson is an American documentary film director and producer. She is best known for her work on the HBO documentaries, Baby God, The Last Cruise, and Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God.

<i>Try Harder!</i> 2021 American film

Try Harder! is a 2021 American documentary film, directed and produced by Debbie Lum. It follows students at Lowell High School as they apply and hope for admission to the college of their dreams.

<i>AlphaGo</i> (film) 2017 American film

AlphaGo is a 2017 documentary directed by Greg Kohs about the Google DeepMind Challenge Match with top-ranked Go player Lee Sedol.

<i>Retrograde</i> (2022 film) 2022 documentary film by Matthew Heineman

Retrograde is a 2022 American documentary film directed by Matthew Heineman that covers events that took place during the final nine months of America's 20-year war in Afghanistan. It had its U.S. premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and had its Canadian debut at the Vancouver International Film Festival on October 2, 2022. It was released in select theaters in the United States starting November 11, 2022, by National Geographic Documentary Films and Picturehouse and was later made available on various streaming platforms. The film received critical acclaim, was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in the Documentary Category at the Producers Guild of America Awards, and won the Doc NYC award at the annual documentary film festival.

References

  1. Ramachandran, Naaman (1 August 2022). "High School Hockey Rivalry Documentary 'Hockeyland' Acquired by Greenwich Entertainment, First Trailer Released". variety.com. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  2. Erhlich, David (November 8, 2021). "DOC NYC 2021: 12 Must-See Films at America's Biggest Documentary Festival". Indiewire .
  3. "Nominations Unveiled For The Seventh Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards". Critics Choice. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  4. Erhlich, David (November 8, 2021). "DOC NYC 2021: 12 Must-See Films at America's Biggest Documentary Festival". Indiewire .
  5. Wyshinksi, Greg (September 14, 2022). "Inside the making of 'Hockeyland,' bringing Minnesota high school hockey to the big screen". ESPN .
  6. Mitchell, Alex (October 17, 2022). "'Hockeyland' captures high-stakes world of Minnesota high-school hockey: 'It's bonkers'". New York Post .
  7. Marsh, Steve (November 21, 2022). "Coming of Age in Hockeyland". MSP Magazine .
  8. "'After Ever Happy' & Faith-Based 'Lifemark' Fire Up Fathom Events – Specialty Box Office". Deadline . Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  9. Davis, Clayton (October 17, 2022). "'Fire of Love' and 'Good Night Oppy' Lead Critics Choice Documentary Award Nominations". Variety . Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  10. "2021 StLFCA Jury Award Winners at the St. Louis International Film Festival".
  11. https://www.docnyc.net/film/hockeyland/
  12. https://bsdff22.eventive.org/schedule/61f0ad303cea51007f856f64
  13. https://www.siff.net/documents/Festival/2022_FESTIVAL/FEST22_Program_PDF.pdf
  14. https://mkefilm.org/events/hockeyland
  15. https://www.yesweekly.com/film/riverrun-announces-2022-film-lineup/article_df61b01e-b5bf-11ec-ac9a-d3cddbcbf536.html