WICHITA, KAN — The Tallgrass Film Association announces the August selection for Tallgrass Third Thursday: “Left Field,” a documentary that the Chicago Reader said “gives new meaning to the term ‘tragically hip.’” The film will screen 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 19 at the former Hillside Baptist Church, 147 S. Hillside. Tickets are $10, or $8 for students, seniors and military and can be purchased at the door or in advance online at TallgrassFilmFest.com.

“Left Field” is the story of a unique community of misfits, artists, musicians, geeks and party animals whose lives coalesce around the grade school game of kickball. The film centers around primarily around the stories of Wichita native KC Haywood and his fiance Sarah Hart, two modern American nomads in search of adventure who stumble upon a wild, fledgling community of anarchistic kickballers upon their arrival in Chicago. They quickly find themselves immersed in a vibrant culture of creativity, love, play and excess that embraces them as family.

The Fighting Cocks pride themselves as the losingest team in the hard partying Humboldt Park kickball league, a freewheeling mobocracy of misfits who face off every Sunday in Chicago’s brief but glorious summer against the likes of The Christ Punchers, Ronnie’s Finger Beef Blasters and Team Orange. KC and Sarah are the king and queen of Kickball Prom and the beating heart of the Fighting Cocks. KC maintains the league’s iconoclastic conscience by running bases backwards, inventing absurd rules and provoking the ire of more serious rivals. Kickball is far more than a game for many of these players. It’s a lifestyle and a family free of judgment, a way to remain kids in defiance of the inevitable encroachment of aging and responsibility. There’s a tinge of darkness on the edge of the fun as some players’ debauchery crosses over into addiction while others deal with disappointed expectations and unfulfilled ambitions.

With the kickball league growing larger, structure, rules and competition creep into this anarchist’s Garden of Eden and threaten to destroy its innocence and purity. As the community deals with these new challenges, disaster strikes when KC unexpectedly dies in a freak accident. After rallying to support their friend and each other during this difficult time, it becomes clear that love, friendship and the zest for life triumph over tragedy.

Eric Melin of Scenestealers.com said, “This group of punks celebrate non-conformity, but it’s how they come together as adults that give ‘Left Field’ its biggest victory.”

Movie site: http://www.leftfieldthemovie.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33XIZJ_UZew

Press photos: http://www.leftfieldthemovie.com/photos.html

For more information, contact Tallgrass Film Association executive director Mike Marlett at [email protected] or (316) 519-0229 or contact Director of Programing Gretchen Mitchell at [email protected] or (316) 263-0884.