‘Diamond Diplomacy’ Explores Baseball’s Historic Influence on Japan-U.S. Relations
Here’s your daily dose of an indie film, web series, TV pilot, what-have-you in progress, as presented by the creators themselves. At the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite.
In the meantime: Is this a project you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.
Logline: Devotion to baseball has been tossed between the U.S. and Japan since the late 1800s, and mirrors profound shifts in diplomacy between the two nations. “Diamond Diplomacy” charts this story revealing pivotal moments of often-controversial duality.
Elevator Pitch:
Baseball is the national pastime of two very different countries. “Diamond Diplomacy” is the never-before-told story about the dramatic ups and downs of U.S. and Japan diplomacy, since 1872, through the lens of a shared love of baseball. Several players and managers (including Babe Ruth and Lefty O’Doul) have been important ambassadors through baseball. The baseball legacy of Mashi Murakami, the first Japanese Major Leaguer, will serve as a touchstone and allow the viewer to reflect on significant points in history, as well as experience both the melding and the clash of two cultures, through more current exchanges of players.
Production Team:
Director/Producer: Yuriko Gamo Romer (“Mrs. Judo,” “Occidental Encounters”)
Producer: Marc Smolowitz (“The Weather Underground,” “Trembling Before G-d,” “Havana Curveball,” “The Campaign”)
Editor: Ken Schneider (“Regret To Inform,” “Have You Heard From Johannesburg,” “The Good War and Those Who Refused To Fight It,” “Ralph Ellison: An American Journey,” “Store Wars,” “School Colors,” “Bolinao 52”)
Director of Photography: Andrew Black (“Fahrenheit 911,” “Sicko,” “The Trials of Muhammad Ali,” “The New Environmentalists,” “Inequality For All,” “Standing on Sacred Ground”)
About the Film:
“Diamond Diplomacy” began with a friend, whose father, Con Dempsey had been on the 1949 San Francisco Seal’s Goodwill Baseball Tour to Japan, and had home movies of the post-WWII occupation trip. I was born in Japan, but raised in the U.S., straddling both cultures and was immediately hooked! I learned that baseball was introduced to Japan in 1872. Through interviews of these characters I learned about the hits, and the errors of diplomacy, on and off the ball field and there are some big name baseball ambassadors involved — Babe Ruth, Lefty O’Doul, Hideo Nomo and more.
Current Status: We are currently in early production and development.
Got a project that you’d like to be featured? Submit to Project of the Day!
