Downloads: Press Release
Competitors in the Over-80 World Table Tennis Championship Show an Uncommon Drive to Win In the Face of Old Age
“It is about aging, mortality, friendship, ambition and love. The stories stay with you for hours, weeks, after the credits have rolled.”–Matthew Syed, The Times, UK
Watch Ping Pong – Trailer on PBS. See more from POV.
The new British documentary Ping Pong opens with a classic sequence of sports drama. One aging player is laid low with an illness that seems likely to keep him from competing at the next world championship in what would be the culmination of his career. His doubles partner, also a veteran but radiantly healthy by contrast, does what he can to boost his partner’s morale. Will the men fulfill their dream of winning a gold medal?
The surprise in this story is that the sport is ping pong and the men are competing in the over-80 division of the World Veterans Table Tennis Championships. The sick player, Terry Donlon, is 81 and has cancer. He plays wearing a nebulizer for shortness of breath, earning him a reputation as a “walking miracle.” Now, he’s been given one week to live. His doubles partner, fellow Brit Les D’Arcy, 89, is a renowned advocate for the elderly, known for his determined–some would say fanatical–pursuit of activities such as weightlifting and writing poetry. There is naturally much that is charming in a picture of the elderly playing table tennis. But in Terry, Les and five other players, Ping Pong discovers uncommon stories of people playing for something far greater than gold medals. They are playing for their lives.
Anson Hartford and Hugh Hartford’s Ping Pong has its national broadcast premiere on Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 at 10 p.m. (check local listings), as part of the 26th season of the award-winning PBS series POV (Point of View). American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, POV was honored with a 2013 MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
Ping Pong‘s players from around the world are headed for the world championships in China’s Inner Mongolia. Swede Rune Forsberg, 85, an archrival of Les, sees the 2010 competition as his last chance for gold. Dorothy DeLow of Australia may not be the best player, certainly not the quickest, but she’s a legend in her own right. At 100, she is the game’s oldest competitive player. Lisa Modlich of Houston, a relative newcomer at 85, has led an exciting life. She was raised in an aristocratic Viennese family and fought in the French Resistance before emigrating to the United States. She is now married to Joachim, 25 years her junior, and is one of the game’s fiercest competitors, a quality not always well-received by the other players.
Ursula’s good friend, fellow German Inge Hermann, 89, has perhaps the most astounding story of all. After her husband’s death 15 years earlier, her physical and mental health rapidly declined, and she ended up in the dementia ward of a nursing home. Introduced to table tennis as therapy, she took it further than anyone could have hoped. Inge literally paddled her way back to physical and mental wellbeing, and today she manages the nursing home and teaches weekly computer science classes. In Ping Pong, she’s shown going to her first international competition.
The sport of table tennis originated in Britain in the 1880s. London hosted the first official world championships in 1926. Since 1988, table tennis has been an Olympic sport. Despite the game’s European origins, having the world championship match-up in China’s autonomous Inner Mongolia is not as strange as it might sound. This is modern China, and the location of the tournament in the town of Hohhot reflects the enthusiasm for table tennis among many Chinese and other Asians. Ping Pong shows large and excited crowds watching the competitions, including the over-80 games, with a fervor approaching that of Americans watching NBA games.
Ping Pong, having revealed the gritty stakes behind the endearing images, plays the tournament for every bit of tension as the protagonists experience the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” that come from world-class competition. Will the short-of-breath Terry survive his singles matches and play to win the doubles gold? Will Les live up to his extravagant reputation? Will Rune get his gold medal–and vindication? Will Dorothy continue to prove you’re never too old? Will Lisa sweep all before her with her youthful contempt and relative speed? Will Ursula retain her championship though she has slowed down since winning it two years earlier? Will Inge win her first medal and make her nursing home proud?
Most dramatically, will these men and women simply keep playing in the face of old age, illness and the imminence of death? As a younger player says, admiring the 100-year-old Dorothy DeLow, “I’d be proud just to be standing.”
For a film that, like its subjects, faces old age and death head-on, Ping Pong is engaging, inspiring and surprisingly suspenseful. When the ball’s in play, all bets are off.
“Interestingly, ping pong is seeing a resurgence of interest through pop-up spaces, bar-based tournaments and celebrity enthusiasts,” says director Hugh Hartford. “But, really, we wanted to make a film about the tenacity of the human spirit more than about any sports title. There’s a message for all of us in this.”
“At the beginning we thought we were making a film about what life is like toward the end of our lives,” adds producer Anson Hartford, Hugh’s brother, “but Ping Pong is much more about living than about dying. It is more about love and friendship than loss and death.”
Ping Pong is a production of Banyak Films in association with BRITDOC and Channel 4.
POV invites viewers to celebrate the series’ 26th season with a “POV Premiere Party.” Invite as many people as you like to watch the PBS national broadcast premieres of POV’s Season 26 films on your television or laptop… and tell us about your experience. Then enter for a chance to win a bundle of POV DVDs, plus popcorn, chocolate, coffee and more. Enter at www.pov.org/premiereparty.
About the Filmmakers:
Hugh Hartford, Director
Hugh Hartford is a producer and director of documentaries for United Kingdom and international broadcasters through Banyak Films, a company he co-founded. His last project as producer, Us Now, aired on Channel 4’s international feature documentary series True Stories. He regularly makes half-hour current affairs documentaries for Al Jazeera English. Ping Pong is the first feature documentary he has directed.
Anson Hartford, Producer
Anson Hartford has produced documentaries for the BBC, Al Jazeera English, Sky Arts, BBC Films and a host of independent ventures. The last film he directed was James Ravilious: A World in Photographs, a BBC Four arts documentary about one of the great unknowns of British photography.
Credits:
Director:Hugh Hartford
Producer:Anson Hartford
Executive Producers:Maxyne Franklin, Beadie Finzi
Cinematographers:Hugh Hartford, Anson Hartford
Editor:John Mister
Original Music:Orlando Roberton
Running Time:56:46
POV Series Credits:
Executive Producer:Simon Kilmurry
Co-Executive Producer:Cynthia López
Vice President, Programming and Production:Chris White
Coordinating Producer:Andrew Catauro
- Awards and Festivals:
- Celebrate Age Special Mention, Mumbai International Film Festival, 2012
- Best Documentary Nomination, Warsaw International Film Festival, 2012
- Opening Night Film, DMZ Docs Korea, 2012
- Official Selection, Hot Docs, 2012
- Official Selection, Sheffield Do/Fest 2012
- Official Selection, Calgary International Film Festival, 2012
- Official Selection, DOC NYC, 2012
- Official Selection, Zurich Film Festival, 2012
- Official Selection, Palm Springs Film Festival, 2012
- Official Selection, Miami International Film Festival, 2012
- Official Selection, SF Documentary Festival, 2012
For a complete list of screenings, visit http://pingpongfilm.co.uk/.
Produced by American Documentary, Inc. and beginning its 26th season on PBS in 2013, the award-winning POV is the longest-running showcase on American television to feature the work of today’s best independent documentary filmmakers. POV has brought more than 365 acclaimed documentaries to millions nationwide. POV films have won every major film and broadcasting award, including 32 Emmys, 15 George Foster Peabody Awards, 10 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards® and the Prix Italia. Since 1988, POV has pioneered the art of presentation and outreach using independent nonfiction media to build new communities in conversation about today’s most pressing social issues. Visit www.pbs.org/pov.
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American Documentary, Inc. (www.amdoc.org)
American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia company dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.
POV has the honor of receiving a 2013 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the desJardins/Blachman Fund and public television viewers. Funding for POV’s Diverse Voices Project is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Special support provided by The Fledgling Fund and the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.
Contacts:
POV Communications: 212-989-7425
Cathy Fisher, cfisher@pov.org; Amanda Nguyen, anguyen@pov.org
POV online pressroom: www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom
