Friday, May 7, 8:30 PM, Charles Theatre 2

Director: Eric Chaikin, Julian Petrillo

Cast: Joe Edley, Matt Graham, Marlon Hill, "G.I." Joel Sherman

Country: U.S.
Year: 2003
Running Time: 77 minutes
Format: Beta SP

We've seen other wonderful movies about odd competitive obsessions; Hands on a Hard Body and Spellbound come to mind, and many of us are attached to at least one of the versions of serious poker currently on television. Now comes Scrabble, as fiercely competitive a game as there is, it turns out. Filmmakers Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo have given us a remarkable look at four world-class Scrabble players, one of them from Baltimore, as they prepare for the National Scrabble Championship in San Diego.

Their story provides startling human insight and humor. Each of the four competitors is a film character you couldn't make up- Joe Edley, once homeless, is considered the Jack Nicklaus of Scrabble, and is going for his fourth Championship; Matt Graham is a stand up comic who anagrams for money in bars; "G.I." Joel Sherman, the 1997 World Champ, battles lifelong gastrointestinal problems with large amounts of Maalox; and, Baltimore's Marlon Hill has a fascinatingly complex relationship to English, referring to it in the film as a "greedy language." S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E:, by the way, became the trademarked name of the game in 1948, fifteen years after its invention, and it means "to grope frantically." Executive Produced by Seventh Art Releasing, a Cordish Company

-- Jed Dietz

Eric Chaikin designed analytics software on Wall Street, and sought out competitive Scrabble as a way to relax. As he learned more about the competitors, he was convinced there was an interesting film story to be told. Chaikin convinced his friend from Brown University, Julian Petrillo, and a young director of narrative film and episodic television, to join him on his journey.

Udy Epstein runs an independent production, distribution and foreign sales company noted for award-winning documentaries. Releases include five Academy Awards nominated films and one Oscar winner. Epstein executive produced Creature (with Sheila Nevins) and Rudyland for Cinemax/HBO. Other 7^th Art productions are: Footlong, Almost Elvis and Rubber Tramps (all Trio Networks). In post production: They Looked Away, narrated by Mike Wallace.