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How do you top a first film project about nomadic reindeer herders in Mongolia?
How about the power of baseball in China's "Wild West?"
That's the strategy of two young Sacramento documentary makers who are nearing completion of their second film, called "Diamond in the Dunes."
Set in China's rural Xinjiang province, it's a look at the harsh racial divide between the majority Hans and the ethnic minority Uyghurs (pronounced "Weegers").
The film's focus: a baseball team that serves as the region's only activity "where segregation is broken," says Keith Ochwat, the 24-year-old co-founder of Sacramento's Documentary Foundation.
Ochwat and his business partner, Christopher Rufo, stumbled on the "hope and baseball" story in 2006 while filming their first documentary, "From Sacramento to Mongolia: Roughing It."
Early last year, Rufo traveled to China's desert region and spent nine months with the baseball team.
For the first six weeks, "he didn't shoot a minute of film because the (players) didn't trust him," Ochwat says.
Eventually, he won them over and returned home with 100 hours of raw footage that's now being edited into a feature-length documentary.
The film partners, college graduates who were high school buddies in Sacramento, figure the product will be a niche film - shown at art-house theaters and on university campuses.
When it's finished this summer, Ochwat isn't predicting it'll become the next "Man on Wire," this year's Oscar documentary winner for documentaries and an unexpected commercial success.
But, he says, "Hey, if Century Theaters comes to us, we'll be happy to readjust our distribution plans."
More...
How about the power of baseball in China's "Wild West?"
That's the strategy of two young Sacramento documentary makers who are nearing completion of their second film, called "Diamond in the Dunes."
Set in China's rural Xinjiang province, it's a look at the harsh racial divide between the majority Hans and the ethnic minority Uyghurs (pronounced "Weegers").
The film's focus: a baseball team that serves as the region's only activity "where segregation is broken," says Keith Ochwat, the 24-year-old co-founder of Sacramento's Documentary Foundation.
Ochwat and his business partner, Christopher Rufo, stumbled on the "hope and baseball" story in 2006 while filming their first documentary, "From Sacramento to Mongolia: Roughing It."
Early last year, Rufo traveled to China's desert region and spent nine months with the baseball team.
For the first six weeks, "he didn't shoot a minute of film because the (players) didn't trust him," Ochwat says.
Eventually, he won them over and returned home with 100 hours of raw footage that's now being edited into a feature-length documentary.
The film partners, college graduates who were high school buddies in Sacramento, figure the product will be a niche film - shown at art-house theaters and on university campuses.
When it's finished this summer, Ochwat isn't predicting it'll become the next "Man on Wire," this year's Oscar documentary winner for documentaries and an unexpected commercial success.
But, he says, "Hey, if Century Theaters comes to us, we'll be happy to readjust our distribution plans."
More...