
Favorite Son - Trailer

SYNOPSIS
David Paxton is the most unlikely of heroes. In a story of family, of dreams deferred, and of a final chance at redemption Paxton, returns to his hometown as much less the hero he once assumed he would become.
Nearing the end of his minor league baseball career, he meets Joan Embry, and her son Ross, believing he has found a way to acquire the love, support and family for which he's long been yearning. But his overheated romancing of Joan makes her wary, and his attempt to mentor Ross meets with the boy's undisguised contempt. It appears his dreams of a future have died, and David's simmering rage threatens to erupt into violence.
But David and Ross, a disturbed teenager heading down a path of increasing destructiveness, somehow forge an odd, clandestine friendship. David must break out of his own isolation to help the troubled young boy and confront the dark secrets that haunt both their lives. He must become a father figure in a way he never imagined, and in so doing become a genuine hero off the field.

From Our Director
I’m delighted that Favorite Son has found a new home with Passion River Films and is now available for so many to see. Our film tackles a very serious topic - the damage done by sexual abuse - in this case the victimization of athletes - and the resulting rage that can consume them. That’s a topic that’s been very much in the news of late; instances of abuse and cover-up against college and olympic athletes. Beneath the story is the real message of our movie; that most of us have experienced difficult, even painful times in our lives that lead to some secret we fight to conceal. It’s only the removal of stigma and shame that can lead us to find it easier to reveal that secret and so to communicate honestly with each other, and in doing so to overcome obstacles born of fear and embarrassment. That we were aided in our work by magnificent performances from Pablo, Connor, Kellie and Richard (Bekins) only serves to show that the secret of Favorite Son is that it was so enjoyable to make. Thank you to my friends and colleagues Ben Wolf, Michael Stewart, Emily Gumpel, the enormously talented Murray Attaway, and Mike Mills.
