Figuratively speaking, it was a case of the perfect storm meets stormy weather–that’s the range from good to not so desirable conditions which somehow meshed to give birth to City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story, a feature-length documentary which earlier this year won both the Jury Prize for Best Documentary as well as the Audience Award at the Sonoma International Film Festival. The film, which tells the story of disadvantaged inner city kids who find an outlet and a positive influence through the unlikely sport of lacrosse, also recently gained multiple airings on ESPN.
The project was some two-and-a-half years in the making and its developer and co-producer Tor Myhren, chief creative officer at Grey New York, recalls the ideal and less than ideal circumstances from which the movie arose.
“I’ve been wanting to tell the story of my brother Erik’s life for some time,” related Myhren whose sibling is an elementary school teacher/mentor in a rough urban neighborhood in east Denver, Colo. “I’ve always felt that the role he plays in helping to improve kids’ lives is so important that I would have to at some point write a book, make a film or find another way to get his story out there. So when he called one day and told me he was putting together a lacrosse team comprised of twelve year olds at his school–kids who I’ve met and known over the years–I knew I had the ‘perfect storm.’ Everything he’s about was summed up in this team. Putting my marketing hat on, I saw the natural human interest–a virtually all black team playing a rich white kids’ sport, the whole notion of youngsters learning a sport for the first time. But most importantly, you had these really special, magical kids who have already lived through so much in their young lives. I just didn’t fully realize how magical these kids would turn out to be on camera.”
Yet accompanying Tor Myhren’s self-described “perfect storm” were some personal logistical roadblocks. “I had the idea for the film literally two weeks after I took my job at Grey,” he recalled. “Being chief creative officer at one of New York’s biggest agencies entails a lot of work. How could I make a film having just taken on a demanding full time job?”
The other major problem was that the documentary filmmaker he felt was a must for the project, his friend and former classmate at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, had recently given birth to twin boys. “She was the only person I wanted for this film because I knew she could do full justice to the human element,” said Myhren of Cowperthwaite. “One phone call between us and I flew out to L.A. to discuss the project with her. There were plenty of good reasons not to do it–she just had kids, I just got this big job. But when we talked about the story–and the fact that there’s only one first season and that we couldn’t wait a year otherwise we’d lose that season–we immediately agreed that somehow we would get it done. You only get the kids’ magic of discovery once. So Gabriela moved to Denver with her two kids for six months while her husband stayed in L.A. We got full access into four of the kids’ homes. She would shoot everyday as well as during the weekend games. I flew out every few weekends. Eventually the kids got comfortable with us and forgot the cameras were there. Every two weeks, I would either go to Denver to see the dallies or Gabriela would send them to me.”
The moments captured with the kids are heartfelt and at times unsettling. One youngster’s mom is in prison. He is an angry boy named Gaghe who at times flies off the handle. A coach remarks, “if we can get him under control, he’s an all-American.” If not, he could end up “incarcerated or dead.” Another lad’s father had been murdered and we later learn that the boy’s infant brother had earlier died of pneumonia. Yet all these lacrosse newcomers persevere. In the case of Keizuan, whose dad and brother are dead, we find a talented poet. Another youngster shows both talent for the game and academics, to the point where he is in line to be accepted into one of Colorado’s most prestigious and expensive private schools. His best friend, Jaden, who proves to be an all-star game worthy athlete, maintains a winning smile and personality even though his oldest brother has been imprisoned for 10 years. Two girls are on the team, as well as a white youngster who has musical ability; he is the only one of four white players to stay on the team throughout the season.
This collection of 12-year-olds makes up Denver’s first inner city lacrosse team. The team name is City Lax (Lax being an abbreviation for lacrosse). On the field, City Lax gets off to a poor start, losing its first five games. This was cause for pause, admitted Myhren.
“They hadn’t come close to winning and while we had some amazing human stories, I felt all along that if this wasn’t a lacrosse story with some cause for optimism, we don’t have a movie,” he related. “So many documentaries are sad and I didn’t want this one to be. It had to be optimistic in that we were dealing with these great kids, and I wanted to reflect the good that my brother has been doing as a teacher for years. The other factor was that the production, while tightly budgeted, was racking up costs with Gabriela and I self-financing the film. Then my brother got seriously ill and was out for four weeks during the season. Erik became a top priority and I wasn’t as focused on the documentary. Plus if he couldn’t return to the team this season, would it be worth continuing to shoot? I had been doing everything in my spare time, separate from my duties at Grey. It became almost tempting to consider pulling the plug.”
But thankfully neither Tor Myhren or Cowperthwaite succumbed to that temptation. The story turned as the team won a game and started to improve, Erik Myhren returned to the sidelines, giving renewed hope to the kids who cared so deeply for him. City Lax finished last and was the bottom seed in the state tournament. Thus they drew the number one seed and amazingly they upset them in the first game. Later the inner city kids won another game which went past sudden death overtime and ended in a one-on-one “Braveheart” match.
Though Erik Myhren’s team was eventually eliminated, its first season laid the foundation for teamwork, player discipline, camaraderie, hard work, and what turned out to be an undefeated season the following year, which culminated in the kids winning the state tournament.
As the story took us deeper into City Lax’s special first season, we get closer to the players, their coaches, and some parents. City Lax head coach George Moore for instance was the Naval Academy’s first African-American lacrosse player back in 1973. He recalled playing teams in the South and having to endure racial epithets. Moore’s response on the field–just play hard, knock the opposing player who used the “N word” on his backside and then help him back up.
Then there’s City Lax parent Kendra (Keizuan’s mom) who gets comfortable enough to finally open up during the next-to-last week of shooting with director Cowperthwaite. Kendra talks about the death of her “baby angel,” and the team comes together to hold a car wash fundraiser to buy a headstone commemorating the anniversary of the infant’s passing. We hear from Gaghe’s mom who is in prison. She talks about her dreams for her child. We hear Erik Myhren’s story, including his decision to teach after a near brush with death. While this isn’t your typical feel-good content, the film conveys a feel-good spirit underscoring the daily resilience of people–particularly the not yet teen players–as they deal with adversity in an urban neighborhood that can be harsh and violent.
Ad community support
Myhren went painstaking lengths to keep this endeavor separate from his Grey schedule. Yet his commercialmaking ties fashioned over some 15 years in the business came into play, helping to bring the documentary to fruition. Some 250 hours of footage was cut down to an 84-minute film, a daunting task which carried with it considerable post-edit expenses–color correcting, music, sound design, graphics.
“This film would have never gotten finished if it weren’t for a lot of friends who provided their services and talent for pennies on the dollar,” said Myhren. Those supporters included New York-based Nice Shoes which offered Myhren late night down time for color correction, transfer, contributions to graphics and other services. “I was pretty much on call, and whenever I was there it was after 10 p.m.,” related Myhren. “I’d get a call at 9 p.m. that there was a cancellation from midnight to four a.m., for instance. We’d take it–and then we couldn’t get in for another two weeks, making it hard to get a flow going but we put it together through this piecemeal scheduling.”
Among the many others who were generous with their talent and resources were such shops as Pulse Music, New York, which did half the film’s soundtrack, Click 3X in New York, which provided some graphics, and Los Angeles-based art director/designer Luis Romero whose contributions included the poster art for the film.
Tor Myhren and Cowperthwaite are also accomplished artisans. A documentary filmmaker who lives in Los Angeles, Cowperthwaite has directed, produced and written a wide variety of real-life stories for ESPN, The History Channel, Animal Planet, and National Geographic. She and Myhren co-produced City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story. Myhren’s creative portfolio includes the E*Trade “talking baby” campaign and the Oprah Car Giveaway, among other pop culture buzz generators.
Besides being friends, Myhren and Cowperthwaite both grew up in Denver, having roots in some proximity to where their documentary is largely set. Myhren’s roots actually proved to be a spark for the City Lax team. In Xmas of 2007, Erik Myhren was cleaning out his garage when he found some of his brother’s old lacrosse sticks. He gave them to the kids, beginning what would become a wild ride to the state championship.
Festival circuit
At press time, the documentary continued to pick up momentum. It has been playing the festival circuit, including those in Vail, Santa Barbara, Denver and AFI’s Silverdocs. The film also continues to air on ESPN throughout June. And in August, City Lax: An Urban Lacrosse Story is slated to be available on DirecTV’s pay-per-view service.
“We’ve taken a bit of a renegade approach, breaking such rules as not selling DVDs until you have a distribution deal,” said Myhren. “Sure, we’d love to have a distributor pick up the film and run it in theaters but we’re not sitting on our hands. We have DVDs of the documentary available on our website. We have the pay-per-view initiative on DirecTV upcoming. We’re constantly pushing. We had a premiere screening in New York [on May 25 at the SVA Theater in Chelsea] and sold DVDs in the lobby. Our goal is to get this film out in front of many eyeballs as humanly possible.”
To see the movie trailer and for more info, click here.
