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News Releases
CONTACT John P. Katsantonis - 773-745-1348
- jkatt@ix.netcom.com
Turn out the “Lights.” The party’s
over.
Mojo shifts to Ken Heckmann’s riveting,
unscripted new documentary
POWER, PASSION & GLORY:
The Real Story of Texas Football Madness.
DALLAS (OCTOBER 29, 2004) – With FRIDAY
NIGHT
LIGHTS enjoying a box office bonanza, the nation’s
attention has turned to the incredible fanaticism
of
high school football as it’s played in the Lone
Star
state. Meanwhile, excitement is building in anticipation
of the release of the unscripted, unrehearsed,
“un-Hollywood” version: “POWER,
PASSION & GLORY:
The Real Story of Texas Football Madness.”
Narrated by Pat
Summerall, the documentary
represents the efforts of filmmaker Ken Heckmann (Ken
Heckmann Productions - Dallas) to capture the grit,
hysteria and heart-stopping tension of the real thing.
Appropriately, he selected as his subject the Celina
Bobcats, who became the winningest team in Texas history
during their dramatic 2002 season, all of which Heckmann
captured on camera. Located 40 miles north of Dallas,
Celina (pop. 3100) had won a record 57 straight games
and four consecutive state 2A championships going
into the 2002 season.
What Heckmann
didn’t know at the time was that an extraordinary
event would give the documentary an extra dose of
drama. To everyone’s shock, Celina’s legendary
head coach of 14 years, G. A. Moore, left for the
school’s archrival, Pilot Point, who they would
later play in a key game. To this day, it’s not
clear exactly why he departed. But when Moore’s
key assistant and protégé, Butch Ford,
took his place, the stage was set for a real, unforgettable
story.
The plot thickened
further when the University Interscholastic League
(UIL) – the governing body of Texas high school
athletics – bumped Celina up to the 3A division,
in which they were the smallest school, with just
347 students. The resulting documentary traces a team,
and a town, in transition, with their dearest institution
(high school football) as the centerpiece of an unexpectedly
dramatic season.
After the close
of that fateful season, Heckmann spent the following
18 months turning miles of video into a 110-minute
documentary with enough twists, turns and excitement
to fill several movies. In addition to Summerall’s
narration, POWER, PASSION & GLORY includes an
exceptional FREE VHS , with original
score and ten new songs by Dallas producer/composer
Chip Evans.
Emerging as the
star of the Heckmann documentary is Celina’s
new head coach. With his spiritual approach and characteristically
“Texas” colloquialisms, Butch Ford delivers
a natural and unrehearsed tour-de-force. His pre-game
and halftime speeches are unforgettable highlights
of the documentary.
The final product
is a pulse-pounding story of a season on the brink.
Will Celina win their fifth straight state championship,
after moving up to a higher classification? Will the
record-setting winning streak be broken? The film
builds in tension to an unforgettable ending even
Hollywood couldn’t have thought up.
The documentary
will be released on November 1, 2004 and will be distributed
initially through the Internet on www.ppgthemovie.com.
DVD Extras
and Special Features
- Missing and deleted scenes from the movie.
- An interview with Celina coach Butch Ford and a
special edit of his stirring pre-game, halftime and
post-game speeches.
- An interview with coach G. A. Moore, now the winningest
coach in Texas high school football history (with
over 400 wins), on what it takes to build a winning
program.
- An interview with producer Ken Heckmann on the making
of POWER, PASSION & GLORY: The Real Story of Texas
Football Madness.
- A very special edit of the 2004 game between Celina
and Pilot Point that will go down as one of the great
Texas High School football games (and rivalries) of
all-time.
- An interview with former NFL star and current college
football broadcaster Craig James.
- An interview with former TCU running back Kent Waldrep,
who received a paralyzing football injury, on why
he is letting his sons play football in Celina.
More information
on the movie can be found at www.ppgthemovie.com.
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CONTACT John P. Katsantonis
- 773-745-1348 - jkatt@ix.netcom.com
Independent Texas filmmaker issues The Friday Night
Challenge™
Contest pits new documentary POWER, PASSION &
GLORY against FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and asks, “Which
film
better captures the truth about Texas high school
football?”
DALLAS (OCTOBER 29, 2004) – With his new
documentary ready for release, Dallas filmmaker Ken
Heckmann has issued a no-holds-barred Friday Night
Challenge™. Just watch his POWER, PASSION &
GLORY: The Real Story of Texas Football Madness and
Hollywood’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, then decide
which movie best captures the truth about Texas high
school football.
Those who prefer
POWER, PASSION & GLORY will be registered to win
an all-expense paid trip for two to the Texas high
school football state championship game of their choice.
Those who prefer Friday Night Lights can get back
the cost of the Heckmann DVD/video and keep the documentary.
“FRIDAY NIGHT
LIGHTS is well done but it’s still ‘Hollywood’
and it often strays from the truth,” Heckmann
says. “What I did was capture the unscripted,
unrehearsed, unstaged realities of Texas high school
football,” he states, adding, “I believe
that most people are going to prefer the real thing.”
POWER, PASSION
& GLORY is narrated by veteran sportscaster Pat
Summerall and includes an exceptional motion picture
featuring an original score with ten new
songs.
“The Friday
Night Challenge” The documentary focuses on the
Celina Bobcats, who became the winningest team in
Texas history during their dramatic 2002 season. Located
40 miles north of Dallas, Celina (pop. 3100) had won
a record 57 straight games and four consecutive state
2A championships.
What Heckmann
did not know is that two unexpected events would set
the stage for an extraordinary, thoroughly absorbing,
true-life drama. First, the Bobcats’ coach of
14 years suddenly left the team for its archrival,
who they would later play in a key game. Next, the
team was bumped from the 2A to 3A division, where
they would compete with better teams from bigger schools
for the first time.
“When you’re
watching a Hollywood movie, you know that everything
has been staged, even if the underlying story is true,”
says Heckmann. “But my film is totally real:
even I did not know how it was going to end, as I
was making it.” In fact, the actual ending to
the final game of the football season, and Heckmann’s
documentary, turned out to be more exciting, unbelievable,
and real than anything Hollywood could have dreamt
up.
Underscoring the
documentary’s quality is the fact that history
POWER, PASSION & GLORY recently won the Deep Ellum
Film Festival’s coveted “Audience Favorite”
award.
“POWER, PASSION & GLORY represents what Texas
high school football is all about,” observes
Olympic gold medalist and Texas all-state high school
football star Brandon Slay. “The word I’d
use to describe it is ‘real.’ Nothing is
staged; you can’t ‘stage’ a season
like that.”
According to Ken
Hall, AKA “The Sugarland Express” —
greatest running back in high school history, “POWER,
PASSION & GLORY sets a realistic tone about how
a coach brings innocent kids to the football world.
I thought it was very real. Coaches will watch and
analyze it. It’s what high school football is
all about. The film is authentic. It has it all. If
you watch it to the end, it’ll grab you. It’ll
touch your heart.”
The Friday Night Challenge contest runs from November
1 through January 31. The film is slated for release
on November 1, and will be available on DVD or VHS,
via mail or Internet ordering. Those interested in
the contest and/or ordering POWER, PASSION & GLORY
should go to www.ppgthemovie.com. Football coaches
can order the POWER, PASSION & GLORY DVD at a
significant discount.
Editors: For more information on The Friday Night
Challenge™, please go to: www.fridaynightchallenge.com
The Friday Night Challenge is a trademark of KHP,
Inc.
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