Forgotten

Would you still perform your art, even if nobody was watching?
That’s a question Tevin faces every day. After 26 years as a professional Jai Alai athlete, Tevin is trying to bring back the fans to the dying game. While remembering the glorious past of this sport, he tries everything in order to play one last match with a stadium full of people.

Starring: Tevin
Director: Daniel Soares
Editor: Alvaro del Val
Story: Daniel Soares and Alvaro del Val
DoP: Mika Altskan
1st AC: Isaac Mead-Long
Sound: Franz Brun
Producer: Rance Randle
Producer: Daniel Soares
Producer: Aimee Perrin
Prod Company: Soares Films

Post: Uppercut
Jr Editor: Tyrone Rhabb
Head of Production: Julia Williams
VFX: John Geehreng
Graphic Design: Daniel Soares

Music: Markus Almkvist

Line Production: Bravo
Line Producer: Kelly Laguaite

Audio Post: Bang Audio
Mixer: Nick Cipriano

Colorist: Mikey Rossiter
Color Producer: Evan Bauer
Color Coordinator: Blake Rice

Jai Alai is a native sport from the Basque Country, the region where I’m from in Spain. Over there is called Zesta-Punta. Jai Alai means “happy party”.
I was always intrigued by the presence of such a local basque sport in the United States and I discovered that it was huge in Miami in the 70s with 15.000 people in the audience every night.
Nowadays, the best Jai Alai is still played by professionals in Miami, but only gamblers pay attention to one of the fastest sports in the world.

So the first question is, why are those players still playing?
And second, and on a more personal level, would I still compete and do what I most love even if no one was watching?

Two years ago I reached out to director Daniel Soares to try to respond to these questions the only way we know: creating a film. Daniel traveled to Miami in order to find more about the subject and met Tevin. Due to his personal story and the moment of his career, Tevin was the perfect person to talk about the past and the present of Jai Alai. But besides sports, he talks about life decisions, success, hope, and passion in a way we can all relate to. All that ended up having a very special beauty under the lens of the great DoP Mika Altskan and the color of Mikey Rossiter.

Forgotten is also a story about Miami and the special world you find there. But mostly, it’s a story of love for the chosen path.