The full-length Mission Classic Italia Baseball film will debut at the 40th annual Milan International FICTS Fest. The Federation of International Cinema Television Sportifs is recognized by the International Olympic Committee for promoting the values of sport through footage.

The screening on November 8 at 6.30 p.m. at the Testori Auditorium will feature an introduction by Italian coach Michele Gerali. Registration is required, but it’s free to attend while seats last.

Mission Classic is the story of the Italian national team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The film was chosen to premiere at the Sport Movies and TV Festival, the most important sports audiovisual festival in the Olympic context in the world.

Mission: Classic is produced by the Italian American Baseball Foundation (IABF) with the patronage of the Federation of Italian Baseball and Softball. It was produced, directed, and written by Chris R. Vaccaro, an Emmy Award-winning media executive, professor, and author. The creative direction, executive production, and photographer were coordinated by Riccardo Landi.

The documentary recounts, with the Italian voice of Matteo Gandini, the weeks that go from the meeting in Italy of the first 13 players who made up Mike Piazza’s national team for the last Classic in November 2022, up to the quarterfinals in March 2023 against Japan which earned the Azzurri, a historic fifth place in the world.

The camera lens accompanied the athletes, who entered the meeting rooms, locker rooms, training fields, and the buses, collecting images, words, and emotions of an unforgettable adventure which merge with the spectacular game actions and are transformed now in a film available for all to experience.

Gerali, coach of Italia Baseball, will take part in the premiere in Milan and meet the participants at the screening, to which all fans are invited for an evening together in Azzurri Blue.

Organized by the FICTS (Fédération Internationale Cinéma Télévision Sportifs), affiliated to the International Olympic Committee, Sport Movies & TV is the final of a true World Championship of Television, Cinema, Culture and Sports Communication after the World International Circuit FICTS Challenge, divided into 20 Festivals on 5 continents, under the slogan Culture Through Sport.

Sport Movies & TV reaches its 40th edition this year, hosted, as per tradition, in Milan in prestigious venues which in 2023, from November 7-11, will be four: in addition to the Testori Auditorium, the Central Cinema ( the oldest in Italy), the Brera International Center and the San Vito Theater in Giambellino.

Among the hundreds of works presented, 140 were selected for the competition and will be screened in Milan during the five days of the event, which also hosts 4 meetings, 3 workshops, 5 exhibitions, and 7 related events, including the 7th Paralympic International Movies & TV Day.

There are a total of four works selected that deal with baseball in this edition: in addition to Mission: Classic, Pursue, from the People’s Republic of China, The Baseball Player, from the Philippines, and The Deokjeok High Baseball Team, from South Korea.