Film screening & Q&A: Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel

For the first time in Olympic Games history, Israel has sent a baseball team to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The inspirational story of how this US-born team of semi-professional baseballers qualified for the Games is told in the uplifting documentary Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel (2018). 

Plus61J Media and Maccabi NSW are pleased to offer this special film screening and Q&A discussion. Watch the film and join us as sports journalist Ashley Browne moderates a discussion with co-director Jeremy Newberger; discussing the team's unlikely journey to Tokyo, as well as their re-engagement with Judaism and the Jewish state. 

Registrants will receive an access code enabling them to watch the documentary anytime between 12:00am AEST Saturday 14 August and 11:59pm AEST Sunday 15 August.

The Q&A discussion will be held 8:30pm-9:30pm AEST Sunday 15 August

Read more about the film:

A stirring story of sports, patriotism and personal growth, Heading Home charts the underdog journey of Israel’s national baseball team competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic. After years of defeat, Team Israel is finally ranked among the world’s best in 2017, eligible to compete in the prestigious international tournament. Their line-up included several Jewish American Major League players―Ike Davis, Josh Zeid and ex-Braves catcher Ryan Lavarnway―most with a tenuous relationship to Judaism, let alone having ever set foot in Israel. Their odyssey takes them from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where they are greeted as heroes, to Seoul where they must debunk their has-been, wannabe reputations. With their Mensch on the Bench mascot by their side, the team laughs, cries, and does much soul-searching, discovering the pride of representing Israel on the world stage.

Watch the trailer: